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B L A N I D. 



B L A N I D. 



BY 



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ROBERT D. JOYCE, 

AUTHOR OF " DEIRDRE." 



^^ 







BOSTON: 

ROBERTS BROTHERS. 

1879. 






Copyright, 1879, 
By Roberts Brothers. 



University Press ; 
JOHN Wilson and son, Cambridge. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

The Flower Feast in Man a 13 

The Despair of Cuhullin 51 

The Taking of Mana 105 

The Tears of Blanid 143 

The Hunting of the Wolf of Bierna .... 164 

The Meeting of the Lovers 203 

The Slaying of Curoi and the Revenge of his 

Minstrel 226 



ARGUMENT. 



"OLANID (The Blossom-Bright), daughter of the 
King of the Isle of Man, is sought in marriage by 
the princes of Western Europe. She refuses them all. 
At length she falls in love \\nth CuhuUin, the son of her 
father's most powerful enemy. The princes form a league 
to win her, and gathering their fleets, sail to Dun Dalgan, 
where they elect CuhuUin leader of the expedition. They 
besiege and sack the stronghold of Mana. At the dis- 
tribution of the spoils, Blanid, by a stratagem, is won and 
taken away by Curoi, prince of South Munster. CuhuUin 
pursues Curoi, and overtakes him at the foot of the 
Mountains of Blama, where they fight for the possession 
of Blanid. CuhuUin is vanquished, and Curoi bears 
Blanid away in triumph to the south. After some time 
the lovers meet again, and with the help of Blanid's 



ARGUMENT. 



foster-mother make a plot for the slaying of Curoi, which 
is done on the night of the Feast of Samhain, and Blanid 
is borne away to Eman by Cuhullin. Curoi's minstrel 
follows them, and at the hunting feast of Rincan-Beara 
dashes down his harp, seizes Blanid, and throws himself 
with her over the verge of the great rock into the sea 
beneath, where they are lost for ever. 



/^ THO U^ to come, though yet perchance unborn^ 
My country's Poet, prince of bards, sublime 

'Mongst those who in the Future's gleaming morn 
Will make great music, in thy manhood's prime 
And day of fame remember me, and climb 

My Hill of Rest ^ and take thy musing way 

Unto the place of tombs, and with sweet rhyme 

Stand thou beside tny headstone lone and gray, 

And strike thy sounding harp and sing no little lay I 

For I am of the race of those longsyne 

The makers of heroic minstrelsy. 
Though oft in youth, caught in his silken twine^ 

I sang of Love, to lay and melody 

Made by the ancient bards of high degree, 
Or rustic singers of the lowly cot. 

And many a thorny path I've cleared for thee, 
And sowed some seeds in many a hidden spot 
That bloom a little now where flowers of song were 
not I 



lO PROEM. 

Though many ajield I^ve searched ofyorelgn lore 

And found great themes for song ^ yet neer would I 
Seek Greece^ or Araby, or Persia's shore 

JFor heroes and the deeds of days gofie by ; 

To my own native land my heart would fy^ 
Howe'er my fancy wandered., and I gave 

My thoughts to her and to the heroes high 
She nursed in ages gone., and strove to save 
Some ?ncmory of their deeds from dark oblivious 
wave I 

And not for gold I sang., nor foolish greed 

With easy steps to reach Fame^s hallowed ground ; 

For love of Song I piped my sylvan reed., 
And sotnetimes too essayed a bolder sou?id 
To wake meji's sotils to nobleness^ and found 

Each effort to my heart new guerdons bring., 

And though few laurels wreathe my temples round.. 

My task is xvrought in stirring even the striitg 

Of the bright harp that yet beneath thy touch shall 
rins- 1 



PROEM. 1 1 



In this some bloom of Fancy viay'st thou find: — 
Heroes and heroines from the dusky haze 

Of Eld I've called., and limned them., heart and mind., 
As best I could, in all their thoughts and ways 
Of love and -war; and if it win thy praise 

And thy approving smile., I ask no more 

Than this., to add one green leaf to the bays 

In learning and in song my country wore 

When all the world was dark, save her, in days of 
yore I 



BLANID. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 

TN Mana of the Sea there reigned a king 
Far famed for valor and for treasures rare 

Of gems and gold and many a precious thing 
Bright as the stars in frosty midnight air ; 

One daughter dear he had, within the ring 
Of the round world the fairest of the fair, 

And through the lands the loud-tongued wind of 
fame 

Blew far and near the bloom-bright Blanid's name. 



14 



BLANID. 



As in some regal garden a young rose 

Buds into bloom 'neath fostering sun and 
wind, 
And each successive day new beauty shows 

Of leaf or stem beyond its lovely kind, 
Till in the .summer's midst it smiles and glows 

Fairest of all with pearly dews refined, 
So grew that lady peerless, pure and good, 
To the first morn of perfect womanhood. 

And many a lay the wandering minstrels made 
To the bright beauty of that Flower of flowers, 

From Eman's hall and Tara's laurel shade 
To Gwydilod and high Tintagel's bowers ; — 

From Gallia's shores by ocean broad embayed. 
To the bleak isles where misty Coolin 
towers. 

Her praises spread from eager land to land. 

By the strong wind of fame for ever fanned. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 



15 



And men of high renown, the bold and brave, 
Who ne'er before felt love illume their breasts, 

Strove for the right with splintering lance and glaive 
To wear her joyful colors on their crests ; 

Poet and mighty prince and lord and slave 

Spoke of her, great kings sought her hand, and 
quests 

By knights forlorn for her were underta'en 

To take her from her sire, but all in vain. 

And though a quest of danger and of dread, 

Thick thronged the knights on it, as summer 
bees 

Swarm round a hive in thousands ; many a head 
Grinned ghastly o'er her father's gate of these 

Misguided champions valorous, fancy-led. 
Who to Green Mana came across the seas. 

Feeding their hearts with vain hopes all the while 

To win that far-famed maid by force or guile ! 



l6 BLANID. 

Yet on those days when in his kingly hall 

Her father held high court, and strangers came 

From the earth's farthest ridge remote, and all 
Sunned themselves in the smiles of that fair 
dame, 

On prince and knight and squire, on great and small, 
Her glorious eyes beamed unimpassioned flame, 

As though her maiden heart could ne'er respond 

To the soft touch of love's enchanted wand. 

For, as the crystal well whose bosom sheen 
Sparkled within her garden of delight, 

And mirrored all the flowers and leaves of green 
And sun by day and moon and stars by 
night, 

But kept no image there, her heart serene 
Took all impressions, sorrowful or bright. 

With care unclouded and with love unwarm. 

And treasured in its depths no hallowed form. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MAN A. 17 

But every heart hath its appointed hour 
To wake to love's immortal joy or pain, 

To feel through every nerve the tyrant's power, 
And weep or laugh with gladness 'neath his 
reign. 

It chanced upon a day to Blanid's bower 
Uprode her sire with all his sylvan train, 

And called her forth, with hounds and huntsmen bold 

To chase the wild deer in the summer wold. 

Fair as the moon and her attendant throng 
Of glittering stars in heaven's blue firmament, 

To sounds of huntsman's horn and minstrel's song 
With her fair maids around her forth she went : 

Then spread the many-voiced chase along 

The dales, the woods, the wind-waved mountain 
bent. 

Like a gay streamer of the northern sky, 

Sparkling and shifting till the noon drew nigh. 



1 8 BLANID. 

Then reined she up her steed where rose the tune 
Of merry birds half mad with summer glee, 

In a lone hollow that with answering croon 

Of murmuring leaves and winds sang joyously : 

Below her in the lake the sky of noon 

Was mirrored, and beside her many a tree 

Gleamed bright with fragrant blooms, and singing 
rills 

Shot down in music from the shadowy hills. 

Behind her, grim to heaven a moorland faced, 
Home of great boars, and huge primeval kine 

Whose savage bulls' loud bellowing shook the 
waste 
At blink of early morn or day's decline : 

Up from its midst, with wizard woods embraced 
Of giant oak and strong sky-towering pine, 

A dark hill with a bleached and barren skull 

Towered o'er that region weird and wonderful. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. ' 19 



Now, from beneath that hill, upon the breeze 
Sudden the clamor rose of hounds and horn, 

Then came a bellowing sound that shook the trees. 
As shakes a summer gust the shivering corn. 

Trembling young Blanid looks ; anon she sees, 
With earth-consuming strength of fury born, 

A mighty bull come thundering through the 
brakes, 

Showering the moss behind in skyward flakes '! 

Onward he came with speed like the wild wrack 
Of clouds pursued by tempests in their ire, 

White foam-flakes on his brindled sides and back. 
Flames darting from his burning eyeballs dire, 

Two fierce hounds and a bold knight on his track, — 
A knight whose javelin flashed like azure fire, 

Whose harness gleamed, whose horse outstripped 
the blast 

In Barna's wood, spurring behind him fast ! 



20 BLANID. 

Trembling bright Blanid sat, without essay 
From that fell spot of peril forth to go, 

As one who from the vale, when suns of May- 
Put forth their strength on Pyrenean snow, 

Sees o'er him th' avalanche its power display, 
And, dazed with danger, waits for death be- 
low, 

Unknowing what to do, so sat the maid 

On her gay palfrey in that hollow glade ! 

On came the wrathful bull with tenfold wrath 
At sight of her rich robe of many dyes, 

Fast spurred the noble knight beside his path. 
With well-poised form and valor-sparkling eyes ; 

In his right hand the javelin as a lath 
Quivers, then like a lightning flash it flies 

Forward shrill hissing, riving its red way 

Deep through the great heart of its giant 
prey ! 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 2 1 

As when an earthquake shakes the soHd ground 
From caverns deep where fires infernal burn, 

From its high station on some lofty mound 
A huge rock falls and shakes the earth in turn, 

The forest trembles to its utmost bound. 

Back the lake's gorge the waters choke and 
churn, — 

So fell that mighty bull beside the shore 

With deafening shock and loud rebellowed roar. 

And as some lovely flower that all day long 
Laughing in air and sun the hours did pass. 

Torn from its bed the green mound's blooms 
among, 
Now helpless withers by the fallen mass. 

So Blanid, from her frightened palfrey flung 
Lies still upon the blossom-jewelled grass, 

No little page anigh, or tearful maid, 

With pitying hands to raise her lovely head. 



22 BLANID. 

But he was there, that hunter beautiful, 

Cuhullin, Eman's noblest Red Branch Knight ; 

He raised her gently up, and in the lull 

Of her short swoon kissed face and forehead bright. 

Kissed golden hair and eyes no longer dull. 

For love's first touch brought back their sweetest 
light, 

And half-shed tears and smiles, and blushes too 

Unto her cheeks like the red rose's hue. 

He looked on her and found her radiant face 
Beautiful beyond all his heart could dream, 

She looked on him with sweet and modest grace. 
And blushed and looked once more. The love 
supreme 

That years of joy nor misery, time nor place. 
Could change, awoke with its immortal gleam, 

And stirred each young heart to its inmost nook, 

And lightened in each eye and smile and look. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 23 



Of danger or of time they take no heed 

Till round the lake sweet echoes roll and run, 

And up the forest path at topmost speed 

Come the gay courtiers spurring one by one : 

Fondly he kissed her, light sprang on his steed 
And through the wildwood vanished ; wind and 
sun 

Played as he went upon his face and hair, 

Making strange gleams of wondrous glory there. 

Then sat she brooding for a little time 

Amidst the grass and fragrant blossoms gay 

Of the sweet place : the merry wild-birds' chime 
She heard not, heeded not the flowers' display 

Of beauty all around : then did she climb 
Into her golden selle, and rode away 

Silent and very glad, till with surprise 

Her maid saw love's first brightness in her 
eyes. 



24 



BLANID. 



And he : — across the stream and through the wood 
With lightsome heart he went, and 'neath the shade 

Sped downward hopefully, till, where the flood, 
Enlarged by many streamlets, tumbling made 

Down a steep precipice in merry mood 

Its path of silver foam, his course he stayed 

Nigh the cliff's foot, beneath an oak whose heac 

O'er flowers innumerous and sweet grasses sprea . 

For in the midst of a small mead it grew, 

Where the bright Goddess, Aine, Queen of 
Flowers, 

Delighted with its pleasures, thither drew 

Sweet winds, warm beams and soft, life-giving 
showers : — 

There all the lovely blooms that ever knew 
The airs of springtide or the sumnier hours 

Showed themselves to the butterflies and bees, 

And glad birds singing o'er them in the trees. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MAN A. 



25 



Around the fragrant place high cliffs arose 
Save where the path led downward by the fall 

Of the sweet murmuring stream, and where in 
throes 
Of elfin laughter o'er a mossy wall 

Of rock it left the mead to its repose, 

Far wandering seaward through the forest tall, 

Where ringdoves cooed to it and larks sang o'er, 

And many a bank of foxglove decked its shore. 

Here while his horse grazed on the grassy bank, 
And while his hounds slept by him, he lay 
down 

On the fresh-smelling sward and sweetly drank 
The wine of thought, until the far-off crown 

Of the old hill grew dim : then soft he sank 
Into deep sleep, and love and its renown 

Forsook him not even then, for in his dreams 

He walked alone anigh two singing streams. 



26 BLANID. 

And on the level sward that lay between 

These warbling waters clear, bright garlanded 

With many-scented blooms, the gentle Queen 
Of Flowers and Summer, Aine, towards him 
led 

Her handmaids in their flowing kirtles green, 
A coronal of lilies on each head : 

And as she drew anigh with heavenly grace. 

Fair Blanid's form she wore and Blanid's face ! 

Unto a bank where many violets grew 

She came and stood, while one beside her played 
Upon a golden lute, and ever drew 

Sweet strains from it, and sang, " Afraid ! 
afraid 
Of love am I ! — to yearn as lovers do. 

To laugh and weep by turns, to stand dismayed 
At every cloud, to sigh for naught, to prove 
All joy and bitterness, — and yet I love !" 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 27 

And as she sang they moved, and back again 
O'er the fresh blossoms passed, yet to his 
ear. 

As they moved farther on, the handmaid's strain 
Floated along the meadow, and more clear. 

More piercing still with passion's bliss and pain 
It grew and grew, until a thrill of fear 

Shot through him at the marvel, and he woke 

Nigh the dark shadow of the ancient oak. 

His horse was grazing near, his hounds at rest, 
Yet scarce a spear-length from him, on the 
ground. 

Sat a bright man in minstrel's colors drest, 
Playing upon a harp whose lovely sound 

Filled all the place : — upon his stalwart breast 
A black beard flowed, and ivy leaves enwound 

His broad brows, while, beneath, two dark eyes shone 

And a fair face unbrowned by wind and sun. 



28 BLANID. 

Upstood the knight, but not with hand on hilt, 
For still the minstrel stirred not, and he 
said, — 

" O rich-robed stranger, tell me what thou wilt 
Of thine own mortal origin, but bred 

With gods thou wert, or in some palace built 
By the Sid People, for methinks I tread 

In heaven while thou art playing ! Who art thou, 

Man of the pleasant face and wreathed brow ? " 

Upstood the minstrel glittering in the moon 

• That now had risen and quenched the star which 

sees 
Each day's red flame expire, — "A boon ! a boon 

I ask of thee, O Knight ! The melodies 
That my harp uttered will delight thee soon 

If thou wilt follow me : beyond those trees 
A cave there is where we can shelter find 
From the damp night dews and the chilly wind. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 



29 



Then call thy horse and hounds and follow me : — 
Men name me Ferkertne, the lord of song, 

And Curoi's bard, from where Tonn Cleena's sea 
Buffets flat Beramain with billow strong. 

Then come ! I 've spread the warm cave's floor 
for thee 
With moss and blooming heather, and the throng 

Of fancies fresh now flitting through my brain 

I '11 sing to thee to-night, if thou art fain ! " 

At the cave's mouth they sat where clear as day 
'Tween two high pines the silvery moonlight 
fell, 

And with blithe music passed the hours away, 
And converse, and Ferkertne 'gan to tell 

How he had sailed across the salt sea spray 
To look on Blanid's face, and in the well 

Of Poesy to bathe his soul, and sing 

Songs of her beauty to his lord and king. 



30 



BLANID. 



" But now," he said, " the moon soars o'er the pine 
That crowns the eastern crag, and we will 
press 

Our heathery couch and let the Night divine 
Cover us with her sweet forgetfulness. 

To-morrow morn the Beltane sun will shine 
And we will seek strong Mana's hold and bless 

Our souls with sight of her fair face, and see 

Their Feast of Flowers and all their pageantry." 

The morn rose fair and strong Cuhullin woke. 
Placed food for horse and hounds, and in the 
cave 

Left them, and with the minstrel from the Oak 
And Mead departed upward by the wave 

Of the wild stream, and soon the woodland folk 
On paths they met trolling a merry stave 

As they went on, and, further, on the plains 

Stout husbandmen in flower-bedizened wains. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 



31 



And further still, on the broad royal way 

The crowds increased, as, when the rains pour 
down 

From far Sleemis to Crotta's mountains gray, 
Alio and Dallo, and the waters brown 

Of Clyda, and strong Mulla white with spray. 
And Puncheon tumbling fast by rock and town, 

Swell the Blackwater's tide, so from each glen, 

Hamlet and hold poured crowds of laughing men. 

Women and children on the royal road 

That Beltane morn, yet, nathless some were there 

Who groaned in secret 'neath pale sorrow's load, 
Remorse's sting, or cloud of black despair ; 

For life's fair hohdays, howe'er bestowed, 
Soften not grief for all, nor brighten care ; 

Yet on they went, life's pearls, life's heavy clods. 

The hearts that blessed and those that cursed the 
Gods! 



32 BLANID. 

Anigh strong Mana's hold, in raiment new 
Of summer bloom a hollow vale spread out 

Its meadowy bosom to the sun and dew, 
Encircled by a sacred wood where, stout 

'Gainst time and change, the towering pine-trees 
grew. 
And strong oaks bade defiance to the shout 

Of wintry storms, and ash and beeches green 

Shadowed the copse where wild things played un- 
seen. 

And on the midmost sward, like giant thrones, 
Reared by primordial hands, austere and grim, 

Spread the great circle of Druidic stones, 

High precinct of the Gods, wherefrom the hymn 

Of the king's priests uprolled in varied tones 

That nowmade bright by turns, and nowmadedim, 

The eyes of the vast concourse all around 

The sacred wood-skirts and the sloping ground. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 33 



A space beyond the circle's open gate, 

Arched o'er the flower-strewn way stood two 
oak-trees, 
Whose trunks, tall pillars, well had borne the weight 

Of all their leafy wealth long centuries : 
Now each towered smiling grandly on his mate, 

Bedecked with many garlands, while the breeze 
Shook their broad branches with a voiceful quiver, 
Like the light murmuring of some gladsome river. 

Beyond the oaks, a good spear-cast across, 
Lay piled a circle of dry wood and fern 

And withered larch-boughs and thyme-spiced moss 
And sea-grass from the home of swan and tern, 

And aromatic pine and last year's floss 

Of the white marsh flax, and all flowers that learn 

Of God to scent earth's woods, from th' inward 
pyre 

Waiting the high priest and the sacred fire. 



34 BLANID. 

And nigh the roadway, on a dais raised 

High o'er the perfumed meadow, sat the King 

Upon a golden seat, and all amazed 

With love and wonder, 'mid a blooming ring 

Of bright-clad maidens in a robe that blazed 
With gems, Cuhullin saw fair Blanid fling 

More garlands toward the oak-trees, singing sweet 

To the light cadence of the moving feet. 

And more amazed he saw the minstrel go 

To the young maids, and with his harp-strings 
bare 

Wake magic sounds thereon, until more slow 
The dancing feet moved, and their joyous air 

He matched with kindred music : soft and low 
It warbled first, till with the dancers fair 

He moved toward the green trees, then loud it rang 

With his sweet voice and theirs, and thus he 
sans: : — 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 



35 



" Come hither with song and with glances bright : 
Sing to the Glory who walks his way 
For ever unchanged o'er the arching height, 
The Helper, the Maker of man's deliglit, 
The Father of Morning, whose piercing ray 
Illumes the shores where the darkness lay ! — 
Sing to the Softener of grief, the Sower, 
• The Ripener, the Reaper, the Lord of day, 
The Slayer of death and the Life-bestower ! 

" When Light withdrew from the Darkness old. 

And the fresh blue heavens and the crystal sea 
Laughed in the primal Morning's gold. 
Earth's rocky wastes lay stark and cold 

Without voice of zephyr or streamlet's glee. 

Then the golden Sun smote the barren lea 
And the shores and the hills and the plains and passes. 

And the birthday was of the shrub and tree, 
Of the painted flowers and the fragrant grasses. 



36 BLANID. 

" The clouds arose from the ocean's breast 
And fell on the deserts in silver showers, 

The streams awoke in their sweet unrest, 

And the new-born winds at the sun's behest 
Sang in the leaves of the springing bowers. 
Till the waste, transformed, was a world of flowers, 

Where the glory of light from the dews would glisten. 
And they whispered sweet in the windy hours 

With no eyes to see them, no ears to listen. 

" Then the Maker of Gods, who ruled the span 

Of the starry kingdoms, the sun, the earth, 
To the uttermost spaces ere time began, 
Of the red clay wrought him the primal Man, 

Of the bright flowers fashioned the woman's birth ; 

For the joy of their bodies and hours of mirth 
He gave them the grape and the wine to follow. 

The game of the forest, the fish of the firth, 
And the corn and the fruit of the plain and hollow. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 



" But best for them and their soul's delight, 

The flower-web of glory round earth he spun, 

The purple of Heather, the Mead-blooms bright. 

The May and the delicate Woodbine's white, 
The Daisy fresh, and the darling One, 
The Hyacinth young ; and a splendor shone 

From their bloom in meadow and wood-glade stilly, 
And the garden glowed in the golden Sun 

With the Pink and the Rose and the safiron Lily. 

" Come hither, come hither, with garlands meet 

For Youth's bright brow and for Age's head, 
Of the fairest flowers that the mornings greet 
With perfumed breath and with kisses sweet 

In glen and meadow and garden bed ; 

For Summer is come and the Winter 's sped 
From moor and mountain, from field and forest, 

And the birds in the greenwood woo and wed, 
And the blossoms laugh where the frosts lay hoarest ! 



38 BLANID. 

" Come hither, come hither, our song to weave 
Of joy where the old Oaks branching rise ! 

Under their shadows let no heart grieve, 

Let love meet love and its truth believe, 
And laugh meet laughter ! — while sunny skies 
Brighten the sward and the sweet hour flies, — 

From fell and forest, by spring and river, 

From brake and bank where the dewdrop lies, 

Gather the garlands and praise the Giver ! " 

Now when the song was ended and the dance, 
And gracefully again the maids drew nigh 

Where the high dais stood, Cuhullin's glance 
Fell on the King and marked the old man's eye 

Bent on him with a furtive look askance, 

Bitter, that seemed to say, " In days gone by 

Thy father's blood coursed through a foeman's 
heart, 

If I can rightly guess whose son thou art ! " 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 39 

But now in th' inner circle a light smoke 

Curled upward o'er the pyre, as though it came 

From 'tween the high priest's hands, and as he 
spoke 
With face upturned to heaven the Sun God's name. 

Moving his outspread palms the while, there broke 
From the sweet perfumed wood a golden flame 

Whereat a torch he lit, and, turning, made 

His slow way outward to the oak-trees' shade. 

Thence with straight-gazing eyes he passed the 
King, 

And at the East side with loud voice of song 
Touched the obedient wood of th' outward ring, 

And by the South and West he went along 
Unto the Northern boundary ; with a spring 

Up to the heavens the flame flew fresh and strong 
Where'er he touched, then turned he, while a cry 
Of gladness from the concourse filled the sky. 



40 



BLANID. 



.And as he sought again the sacred place, 

Swift runners rushed with ready torch in hand, 
Caught the fresh flame, and with hght feet, whose 
trace 
The young grass felt not, cut the breeze that 
fanned 
Each torch, as swept they in their headlong race 
East, West, North, South, until throughout the 
land, 
From sea to seaboard, each extinguished hearth 
Laughed in the gladness of the new fire's birth. 

Now in the gay confusion and the swaying 
Of the crowd to and fro, the minstrel stood 

By the tall Knight. " O comrade, thou art playing 
A game," he said, " will spill thy valiant blood ! 

Then get thee hence ! No more, no more delaying ! 
I've seen the King's brow bent in treach'rousmood, 

I 've heard him speak ! O heed the minstrel's fears ! 

Look yonder, and behold that hedge of spears ! " 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 



41 



He started not : he bent his kindly eye 

Upon the bright-robed minstrel, as he spoke : 

" Fear not for me, O friend ! What looks awry 
Will soon seem straight; and may Crom's light- 
ning-stroke 

Fall on my head when with base soul I fly 
The frown of danger, for the golden yoke 

Of love is linked around me, and I fear 

Nor doom, nor death, while my beloved is near ! 

" My father loved her mother and made war 
On Mana's king, whence mortal hatred sprung, 

And I was born beneath the selfsame star. 

And I must love the daughter, and they 've 
sung. 

High bard and minstrel, that 't is better far 

To love and do great deeds when one is young : 

And whatsoever weird is on me set 

I '11 bear it for her sake without regret ! " 



42 



BLANID. 



" Look to thy neck then, and beware the axe," 
The minstrel said, " for the high King hath 
spoken 

Thy doom ere this, and Vengeance never lacks 
Her bitter food, in breasts of kings awoken ; 

With eager wings she flies upon thy tracks 
Pursuing thee, and I believe no token 

Of safety, but to see thee sit thy steed 

Under the oak-tree in yon forest mead," 

Then answered strong Cuhullin, " I am he 

To whom fate gave two choices, and who 
said, 

* Better to live a short life gloriously 
And as a hero die, than, living-dead, 

An old man with bent frame and tottering knee, 
Tumble into the grave ! ' While hope is fed 

By her kind looks, I stir not ! Live or die, 

Here Blanid's bright eyes gleam, and here am I ! " 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 43 

Then Blanid's bower-maid, Mora, touched his arm 
With a red rose, — "My lady sends thee this, 

Fair knight," she said, "and bids thee flee the harm 
That threats thy hfe and ending of her bliss ! " 

And she was gone like some bright fairy charm 
One meets in desert places but to miss, — 

Gone in the crowd that now thronged nigh the 
King 

To see the people pass the fiery ring. 

First came a young betrothed pair, their heads 
All garlanded with flower-buds, side by side, 

Li-ght-footed, glad, across the clover beds 
Of the fresh mead, more following, till a tide 

Of human life and joy drew near the shreds 
And ash left in a smouldering circle wide 

By the swift flame, where each pair of the 
band 

Leaped o'er the smoking barrier hand in hand ; — 



44 



BLANID. 



Leaped in and kissed each other, then sprang out, 
And onward danced beneath the ancient trees. 

Scattering to right and left with song and shout 
Over the grass, — all ages, all degrees, 

Passed by the King's seat in that merry rout. 
Singing sweet songs and love-woven melodies 

Of birth and bloom of flowers and earth's first 
prime 

And all the gladness of their summer clime. 

Then came the firstlings of each herd and flock. 
The snow-white lamb, the silken calf, the foal 

With wondering eyes, the gray kid from the rock, 
And 'cross the smoking ring and round the 
bole 

Of each tall tree were driven with gentle shock 
Of down-poured primroses from ferny knoll 

Or sunny bank, and stroke of blossomed spray 

Of broom and lilac and sweet-smelling may. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MAN A- 45 



Then for good fortune rode the young knights by, 
All life and laughter pacing o'er the ring, 

Till with drooped plumes and lance-points raised 
on high, 
Half-hid in sacred smoke, they passed the King, 

A crowd of spears thick as the bearded rye 
Upon the wind-blown hill-side following, 

And, led by a tall squire, adown the mead 

Barana, the King's angry battle steed ; — 

Angry and swift and strong, for ne'er before 
Had rein or tightened girth upon him pressed ; 

With brass-shod hoofs the blossomed sward he 
tore 
As l^e pranced down the field in housings dressed 

Of silk and gold ; — fierce was the look he wore. 
With shining haunch, and broad-extended breast. 

And steel-gray coat, and mane of lighter gray 

Tossed o'er his proud neck like a torrent's spray. 



46 BLANID. 

Now from beside the royal chair a knight 

Came smiHng forth to pace the charger through, 

Sprang on his back, a moment curbed his might 
With deft hand, and a doubtful struggle grew 

'Tween both, and raged, till, like an arrow's flight, 
Up in the air the gallant rider flew 

And soon lay on the greensward, and was borne 

Out from the throng with shame-faced looks 
forlorn. 

A second won the fortune of the first. 

Then cautiously a third young knight began 
To stroke the steed, and well nerved for the worst 

Sprang up, and then came down his full-length 
span 
Upon the sward again like one accurst. 

Then cried the wily King, " Perchance yon man 
A head and shoulders towering o'er the crowd 
May mount my steed and try his mettle proud ! " 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. 47 



Cuhullin looked. Behind the royal chair 
Stood Blanid with a red rose in her hand 

Upraised, as though it said, " Beware ! Beware ! 
The coil is round thee! Fly, ere yet the 
brand 

Touch thy beloved neck ! " But naught soe'er 
Of danger now could curb him, and he scanned 

The war-steed with admiring gaze, then stood 

With eyes cast down awhile in musing mood. 

Then drew he near to strong Barana's side. 
And at a bound bestrode him, seized the rein 

And plunged him o'er the sward in circles wide. 
Handling him with such care as on the main 

The mariner bestows 'gainst wind and tide 
Upon his bark that at the tiller's strain 

Obedient turns though rough the course, — so 
led, 

Along the echoing field Barana sped. 



48 BLANID. 

Now through the circle Hke a flash he went, 
And onward 'neath the arching trees, and here, 

As he drave rushing on, Cuhullin leant 

Forward beside his mane and snatched a spear 

From a rough soldier's hand, and frowning sent 
A shout against the ranks that, marshalled 
near. 

Stood ready to fall on him, and who now 

Quailed at the darkness on the hero's brow, — 

And scattered to each side as doth the pack 
Of hungry wolves by lone Morgallion's wave, 

That follows swift upon the wild boar's track. 
To find him thundering from his hollow cave 

Upon them with bright tusks and bristled back 
Through brush and reed, — so at the shout he 
gave 

They scattered right and left, as threatening still 

He turned Barana towards the barren hill. 



THE FLOWER FEAST IN MANA. ^g 



Away with cries and clattering hoofs behind, 
Across the stream and through the sacred 
grove, 

While rose the King's fierce shout upon the wind 
Angry, as when in wild Tormana's cove 

The beast howls for the prey he cannot find : 
Yet howsoe'er his strong pursuers strove 

At the King's voice, Barana's hoofs of speed 

Soon left them far behind both man and steed. 

That eve at set of sun Cuhullin gained 
The Waterfall, the lovely Mead and Tree, 

And by the cavern's mouth the charger reined, 
Alit, and bowed his head and bent his knee 

Unto the Gods with thankfulness unfeigned, 
And with good hope of happy augury 

Barana took, and in the cavern rude 

Before him and his own steed spread the 
food. 



50 



BLANID. 



A moment stood he still, and with delight 

Beheld the two great steeds their haunches 
press 

Together, and like ancient comrades bite 

The fragrant heap and share the selfsame tress 

Of scented clover-blossoms, and affright 

The same flies with their tails in friendliness ; 

Then laughed he as he said, " This augury 

Beginneth well for my beloved and me ! " 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 



51 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 



T TP from the sapphire depths of space profound 
Arose the laughing dawn, and all the skies 
Brightened until, beneath, the flowery ground 
Laughed in return, and the awakening flies 
Outspread their jewelled wings with gladsome 
sound 
To welcome her, while calls and joyous cries 
Of wild things from the bosky dells and lays 
Of birds in field and forest sang her praise. 



52 BLANID. 

And at her touch Cuhullin woke, though 
deep 

He slept, forgetting all his joys and woes, 
And in glad wonder saw the minstrel reap 

The meed of toil in dreamless, calm repose 
Beside him on the fragrant heather heap. 

His hand upon the harp-frame, while a rose 
Red as young Blanid's lips within it lay, 
Sole trophy of the merry yesterday. 

He laughed unto himself with secret joy 
To see his loved one's symbol lying there, 

And stole from out the cave, and, to employ 
The heavenly hour, across the meadow fair 

Walked down to where the wild-birds, nothing 
coy 
At the tall stranger's presence, filled the air 

With tremulous music and the tumbling flood 

Answered from green recesses of the wood. 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLTN. 



53 



Beside the stream he sat and mused awhile 
Till the first sunbeam found the blossomed glade 

Through the green leaves, and many a lover's 
wile 
He formed to meet again the royal maid, 

To clasp her hand, to bask him in her smile, 
Till, with a look of gladness that betrayed 

His heart's resolve, he turned him o'er the dew 

Of the fresh mead and sought the cave anew. 

At this same hour young Mora to the side 

Of Blanid's couch came : " Up ! " she said ; " the 

day, 

O mistress ! laughs upon the waters wide 

And lights the whispering woods ! Up and away 
Into our garden where the humming tide 

From the cool fountain falls in diamond spray 
Adown the mossy rocks, and where in glee 
The blithe birds sing to welcome morn and thee ! 



54 



BLANID. 



" And I will bring the lute that thou hast taught 
My fingers to make mournful or unsad, 

As each fresh mood within thy dear heart wrought 
Its influence ; and the merry hours we had 

Last morn within the garden will seem naught 
This day to thee, for now thy heart is glad 

With yon tall hero's love, they say thy mind 

Will run on thoughts e'en still more glad and 
kind!" 

Like a young rose touched by the gold of morn, 
Blanid awoke, and, looking, laughed and said, — 

" Small wonder since the day that thou wert born 
Thou 'rt called the Chatterer ! Seems as thou 
wert bred 

With daws and jays, all merry things that scorn 
A silent hour ; but hither thy bright head 

Of nut-brown hair, that I may kiss thine eyes 

And lips, and pay thee for thy morn's surprise ! " 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULUN. ^^ 



'Mid fern and foxglove by the woodland rill 
The quick-eyed ousel prinks herself in pride 

On the cool bank, when the voice sweet and 
shrill 
Of her mate calls her, — with dark head aside 

She looks this way and that, then runs until 
She joins him in the sunshine, — so with glide 

Of body and light foot across the room 

Young Mora sought her lady's arms of bloom. 

And then, as Blanid kissed her, playfully 

She broke from out the circling arms and cried, 

Clapping her hands, "Ah not for me, for me 
That last kiss was ! for yester morningtide, 

When thou didst kiss me 'neath the blossomed 
tree 
Beside the well, thou strovest not to hide 

Thy blushes from me ! Ah ! I wis, I wis 

The robber of Barana owns that kiss ! " 



56 BLANID. 

Deeper the Bright One's blush, though well she 
strove 

To hide it, as the Chatterer cried again, — 
" Oh ! would that I were old enough to love 

And know what love is and be loved by men ! 
I tell thee I would make my champion prove 

His mettle among heroes ; in the fen 
Of Gurmal the Gray Serpent he should slay 
With sword and spear before the bridal day ! 

" For I was taught by poets sweet and wise 

Within my brother's hall what knights should be, 

And mine should have a soul of high emprise, 
And with brass keels should plough the stubborn 
sea 

To foreign lands, where untold treasure lies 
In dragon's dens, and he should bring to me 

The dragon's claws as tokens, and full measure 

Unto my house of all the priceless treasure ! 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 57 



"And he should have three hounds with golden 
chains 

And bells all tinkling like the gay harp's thrills, 
A war-steed from the far-off emerald plains 

Of Muman, and a hawk from Norway's hills ; — 
The three sweet Berries of the Yew with stains 

Of crimson on them, from Dunthirre's rills, 
He 'd bring to me, with the bright Marigold 
Three-headed from Birara's magic wold ; — 

" And he — " Here like a posy of fresh pink 
Blanid's fair hand upon her mouth was pressed, 

To stay the flood of talk that o'er its brink 

Was bubbling now so fast. " Unblest ! unblest 

The hapless man," she cried, "foredoomed to 
drink 
The bridal cup with thee, for naught of rest 

He '11 know till his last life-thread is unstrung, 

While thou art near him with thy prattling tongue ! 



5! 



BLANID. 



" And yet I love thee, child ; and well I may, 
Since thy strong sire, great- lord of Beramere, 

Gave his life for my father's in that fray 
Waged with Tintagel's heroes, ere a year 

Had crowned thy winsome head with ringlets gay ; 
And now thou knowest my heart, oh ! still more 
dear 

I love thee, thou sweet pearl ! Then come, and bring 

Thy lute with thee, that thou mayest play and sing." 

Then forth they went, and through a wicket small 
Of brazen tracery sought the garden fair, 

Where through the luminous, whispering leaves 
did fall 
Shafts of white sunlight upon blossoms rare 

From every clime ; and nigh the further wall 
They sat them down upon a fresh bank, where 

The placid fount, the garden's azure eye, 

Returned the love-lit glances of the sky. 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 59 

And Blanid said, " Sweet blossom of the May, 
Sing me a song to cheer me." Eager then 

Brown Mora answered, " Shall I sing the Lay 
Of Garmon, or the Lady and the Wren, 

Or Starry Fingers, or the Twilight Fay, 
Or that old mournful song beloved of men 

And maids, The Knight forlorn slept in the 
Wood, 

The Gold Branch, or White Mergal by the Flood, 

Or Mora and the Moon, that Tiernan sings. 
Our minstrel, or The blooming Almond Tree, 

The Mermaid and the Man, or Silver Wings — " 
" Sing," said fair Blanid laughing, — " Sing to me 

The song that Tiernan made for thee, — that brings 
Gladness whene'er 't is sung ! " " O mistress ! 
see," 

Cried Mora, " yon two doves upon their bough ! 

For them he made this song I sing thee now." 



6o BLANID. 



"THE DOVES. 

" My little blue doves were bom, 

Were bom in the windy March, 

Up in the tapering larch 
That laughs in the light of mom : 
O, so high o'er the meadow ! 

O, so high o'er the glen ! 
And they sit in the leafy shadow, 

The joy and delight of men. 
Cooing, with voices flowing 

In melody soft and sweet, 
Their necks with the rainbow glowing. 

And the pink on their silver feet. 

" My little doves lived together, 
Unweeting of woe'and pain, 
Through the days of the winds and rain 
And the sunny and fragrant weather ; 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 6 1 

And the lark sang o'er them in hea\'en, 

And the linnet from banks of flowers, 
And the robin chanted at even, 

And the tlirush in tlie morning hours 
Carolled to cheer their wooing. 

And the blackbird merry and bold 
Answered their cooing, cooing 

Out from the windy wold. 

*• When the daisy its eye uncloses, 

And the cowslip glistens with dew. 

And the hyacinth pure and blue 
And the lilies and pearl-bright roses 
Prink themselves in the splendor 

Of the delicate white-foot Dawn, 
'Mid the flowers and the fragrance tender 

My little dove's heart was thawn 
With love by the cooing, cooing 

Of the gentle mate at her side. 
And they married in midst of their wooing. 

My bridegroom and woodland bride ! " 



62 BLANID. 

Now take the lute thyself, O mistress sweet, 
And sing to me of love, and let me know 

What love is, for 't is surely most unmeet 
That I should sit in hall and see a glow 

In young squires' eyes my morning presence 
greet, 
Not knowing why. Sing ! that I may bestow 

Four kisses on thee, — two from me, and two 

For one who worships well thine eyes of blue ! " 

And I^lanid took the lute, and " Would that I 
Could tell thee, child ! " she said. " But since 
that noon 

He saved me in the forest, the bright sky 
Seems brighter, and all things I see a boon 

Sent by the Gods who rule in heaven on high, 
To give me gladness ; but alas ! too soon 

My father's ire will end it ; and to thee 

I '11 sing my thoughts of what the end may be : — 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 



63 



"WHAT IS THIS LOVE? 

"What is this love, — this love that makes 

My heart's warm pulses quiver? 
They say it is the power that wakes 
The hyacinth 'mid hazel brakes, 

The Hlies by the river, 
And that same thing that bids the dove 
Sit in the pine-tree high above, 

Its sweetheart wooing ; 
But oh ! alas ! whate'er it be. 
And howsoe'er it comes to me. 

It comes for my undoing ! 

9 

" The lily of the river side 

By its sweet mate reposes 
Through autumn moons and winter-tide, 
To wake in love and beauty's pride 

^Vllen comes the time of roses, 



64 BLANID. 

And in the springing of the year 
The doves' sweet voices you will hear 

Their vows renewing ; 
But oh ! alas ! whate'er love be, 
And howsoe'er it comes to me. 

It comes for my undoing ! 

" O child ! I fear this love, for always pain 
It mingles with its joy, I fear, I fear 

I know not what while in my heart doth reign 
This tyrant. — But the air is sultry here, 

And I would see the foxglove's purple stain 

And heather, and would smell the blossomed brere. 

And love to pluck the forest flowers, and yearn 

To trail my robe amidst the fragrant fern ! " 

And forth they went, and left the garden bright 
Through a small postern, and 't was joy to see 

Their young hearts tasting of the dear delight 
Of freedom in fresh woods ; each branching tree 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 65 

To them towered upward to a glorious height ; 
The zephyrs sang, the rill, the bird, the bee, 
Sang in return, till all the flowery ground 
Seemed pulsing to the sweet pervading sound. 

At length they heard the murmur of the river 
Wherein the forest streamlets plunge and drown 

Their merriment, and 'mid the stir and quiver 
Of grasses and green leaves they sat them down 

Upon a bank where thyme, the perfume-giver 
To flocks and herds on hills and moorlands brown, 

Grew thick with bronzed moss, heath, and lady's- 
dower. 

Wild hyacinth and every woodland flower. 

And as they sat, their quickened senses steeping 
In the new life and glory of the wood, 

Young Mora through the blossomed thicket peeping 
Saw a tall man anigh them, where the flood 



66 BLANID. 

Adovvn its pebbly bed went gaily leaping ; — 

A minstrel's cloak he wore, a minstrel's hood 
Of seven fresh colors bright, and in his hand 
He held a glittering harp that lit the strand. 

Upon a stone he sat, and silently 

Gazed on the crystal tide, while near him played 
The river-birds unfrightened. " Hush ! 't is he ! " 

Glad Mora cried, " the minstrel, all arrayed 
For music as on yesterday ! What glee ! 

To hear the fairy music that he made ! 
But hush ! he stirs ; — let 's take what fortune brings ! 
He wakes the sounding wires ! He sings, he 
sings ! " 

SONG. 
" O Wind of the west that bringest, 
O'er wood and lea, 
Perfume of flowers from my lady's bowers 
And a strain and a melody, — 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLTN. 



^7 



While soft 'mid tlie bloom thou singest 
Thy songs of laughter and sighs, 
Steal in where my darling lies 

With a kiss to her mouth from me ! 

" White Rose, when at morn thou twinest 

Her lattice fair, 
Wave to and fro in the fresh sun's glow 

Till she wakes and beholds thee there ; — 
When over her brow thou shinest, 

Then whisper from me, and press 

On her dear head one fond caress, 
And a kiss on her yellow hair ! 

" O Rose ! and O Wind that found her 

'Mid morning's glee ! 
While the noon goes by, keep ever nigh 

With your beauty and melody ; — 
With your smile and your song stay round her 

Till she closes her eyelids bright ; 

Then give her a sweet Good-night 
And a kiss on the lips from me ! " 



68 BLANID. 

The* first note Blanid heard, her face grew wan, 
Half-rose she, trembling, with dilated eyes, 

Sat down again, and some sweet flowers that shone 
Beside her she plucked up, and like a prize 

Beloved kissed them as the strain went on, 
And laughed a little, till, like morning skies 

Reddening with dainty rose, the blush that speaks 

Of health and joy returned to her fair cheeks. 

Then laughed she unto Mora, " He is here ! 

No minstrel he, but my strong lover true ! 
Though Death with his pale hand should close mine 
ear. 

His voice would pierce my fond heart and renew 
Its throbbings, lying cold upon the bier, 

The grave-clothes round me! Bring him here 
and strew 
Some flowers upon this sunny bank to bless 
Our wondrous meeting and our happiness ! " 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 



69 



And Mora plucked the bright fresh-smelling flowers 
And strewed them on the bank, then out she ran 

With loose hair through the intervening bowers 
And down the slope, and, ere the bright-robed man 

Knew where he sat, rained kisses sweet in showers 
On both his cheeks, and " Come," she said, " the 
ban 

Of her great sire is on thee ; but let me 

In all these things thy kind protector be." 

She took his hand in hers, and like a child 
He followed her with joyful throbbing heart 

Up the green slope, till through the copses wild 
He reached the place, and saw new blushes 
start 

Unto his loved one's fair cheek as she smiled 
Like a full moon on him. With lips apart 

And upraised hands she stood before him, fain 

To clasp him to her happy breast again ! 



70 



BLANID. 



Then hand touched hand, and face met burning face, 
And sweet words passed, as sweet words will forever 

'Tween hearts that love, and 'mid that bloomy place 
They sat them down, and in the wide world never 

Sat such a pair ; their looks, their smiles, gave grace 
And beauty to the spot no thought could sever 

From all things round, all things that laugh and live 

In sunshine and the gladness sunbeams give ! 

Said Blanid, " Since the hour I saw thee first 
Thou 'rt in my heart ! " Said he, " Since that glad 
hour, 
My heart has yearned with love's insatiate thirst, 

Burning for thee, and some immortal power 
Impels me to thee through the best and worst 
Of this my life ! " Said she, " Black clouds may 
lower 
Upon our love, but my love will remain 
Unchanged through all, — through all life's joy and 
pain ! " 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 



71 



He pressed his lips to hers and to his breast 

Her throbbing breast, and said, "Through all I 
see 

Of peril and of sorrow and unrest. 

My love shall grow like yonder vigorous tree 

That rears unto the sky its blossomed crest, 
Gladdening the forest ; so my love shall be, 

Till, as a blast strikes low the proud tree's head. 

Fate comes and counts me with the early dead ! 

" For know, beloved one, my weird and doom ! 

When I was sixteen summers, Caffa old, 
The King's seer, prophesied, and pierced the gloom 

Of the veil 'tween us and the Gods, and told 
That he who on the morrow would assume 

Knighthood should be the pink and pearl and 
gold 
Of chivalry, and that his fame should die 
Only when earth died and the eternal sky. 



72 



BLANID. 



" With wrapt eyes still he prophesied, and said, 
* His fame shall be a tree whose branches wide 

Shall overspread the world, but he is wed 
Unto a weird, that in the strength and pride 

Of early manhood he shall fill the bed 

Of death ! who takes the weird ? * And I replied, 

' I take it ! ' and a knight was made next day. 

The short life and the glorious for my pay. 

"Therefore, O maid! my love shall bring thee 
sorrow ! " 

" Therefore," she cried, " my love will bring thee 
bliss 
Through thy short life, O valiant one ! and borrow 

Light from all things for thee, and what we miss 
Of length of days what boots it, when a morrow 

Will come at last when we shall fade like this, — 
This little flower I hold within my hand. 
That, plucked or not, would die upon the strand ? " 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 73 



And thus they sat and vowed, till from the bank 
Of the bright stream came Mora, lilting sweet 

Her Dove Song, then long draughts of love they 
drank 
Each from the other's eyes, for hours are fleet 

When soul meets soul and time is ever blank ; — 
And Mora said, " I hear the hurrying feet 

Of hunters in the wood and ye must part ; — 

Now let me see how heart beats unto heart !" 

Upstood they trembling with their love, and he 
Opening his arms, unto his breast she flew, 

Her fond arms round his neck, and mournfully 
She kissed him till he felt the love-born dew 

Of her tears on his cheeks. " I see ! I see ! " 
Cried Mora now, " how true heart beats to true ! 

Away, before the hunters find the trace, 

But come and meet next morn in this bright 
place ! " 



74 



BLANID. 



Six times they met. On the sixth morn she said, 
" Where is thy war-gear, O brave love of mine ? 

For I would see thy bright helm on thy head, 
Thy battle harness with its bosses shine 

Of gold and brass, thy shield with Branches 
Red 
Graven upon it ! " — " Where the salty brine 

Rolls up the river mouth," he said, " they lie 

Within my broad-sailed galley for thine eye. 

" Then come with me, O love, and in my hall 
Of strong Dun Dalgan thou a queen shalt 
reign, 

And mistress of my fond heart, over all 
The ladies of the land, while I attain 

All things for love and thee, before my fall 
In the great fight upon the fated plain, — 

Before I die and laugh no more with thee ! " 

" Ah ! no, no, no ! " she cried, " it cannot be ! 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 75 

" What wouldst thou think of me in years to come 
If I should list to thee, if I should yield, 

When underneath the earth my sire was dumb 
And could not speak his wrath with spear and 
shield, 

When thou wouldst say, ' She left her happy home, 
Her hard heart like a frozen fountain sealed 

'Gainst her gray sire ! Can she be true to me ?•' 

Ah ! no, no, no ! Alas ! it cannot be ! " 

They parted, and upon the seventh bright morn, 
As he rode upward through the forest wild, 

A small black cloud within the east was born 
Beneath the sun, and oft looked down and smiled 

With serpent face on fields of tender corn 

And leaf and flower of woodland calm and 
mild. 

And lake and stream, as though it whispered, " I 

Will soon devour all things beneath the sky ! " 



76 



BLANID. 



And as he rode, the cloud clomb up the east 
On the sun's track and swallowed it ; around, 

From copse and brake the birds their carols ceased 
In terror, and the multitudinous sound 

Of the wood's life grew still ; the bristled beast 
'Gainst the rough oak his tusks in anger 
ground, 

The trout sank in the stream, the rabbit fled, 

And the brown otter sought his caverned bed. 

As he went through the valley of the Mead 
And Waterfall and Tree, east, south and west 

And the grim north were black : but little heed 
He took of all the gloom, as on he pressed, 

With high heart, clothed in his battle weed, 
To meet his love, his spear in hand, his crest 

Brightening the gloom, as on he rode like 
Nied, 

The God of War, along that river side. 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 



77 



And as he came unto the trysting-place 

To find his love, and found no love was there, 

His battle-steed, Lia Macha, raised her face 
And neighed three times, 'till through the murky 
air 

The Gods sent lightning from the dreadful space 
'Tween the cloud's serpent jaws, and in the glare 

He saw the wood surrounded, and the sheen 

Of threatening swords the mossy trunks between ! 

And as he moved the great shield from his back 
And poised it on his arm, Lia Macha smote 

The ground with earthquake hoof, and still more 
black 
The gloom became, and from the sulphurous throat 

Of the grim cloud burst thunder like the wrack 
Of worlds in their destruction, and a moat 

The glade seemed in a moment, from the flood 

Of rain dashed down from heaven upon the wood ! 



78 BLANID. 

Then spake he to Lia Macha : " Thou divine, 
Bright searcher of the souls of heroes, thou 

Who, on the first morn the sharp sword did shine 
Of Knighthood in my hand, didst raise thy brow 

And neigh portentous till the deafening sign 

All Eman shook, as earth and heaven shakes 
now 

At thy dread voice, comrade of my last fray, 

Ah ! bear me well, ah ! bear me well to-day ! " 

Then raised he high his spear and in the 
gleam 

Of the pale lightning shook it, till its stave 
Trembled, as a young willow by the stream 

Amidst the fairy whirlwind, and he gave 
The rein to the fleet steed who, like a beam 

Piercing the dreadful darkness, onward drave 
Against the foeman's thickest ranks that came 
With a fierce shout upon him swift as flame ! 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 79 

And round him and Lia Macha flickering played 
The hghtning, till to every foeman's eye 

He seemed a wild bright thing from heaven arrayed 
Bursting upon them, and his battle-cry 

Smote them as smote the thunder, till afraid 
They cowered before him, as he swept anigh 

With levelled spear, and through them rushing went 

As a fierce bull drives through the mountain 
bent ! 

Then rose a wind around him and between 
His foes and him, upon the echoing shore, 

And grew in strength and scourged the copses green 
With wallowing sound like a huge lion's roar 

In haunted forests where no foot has been, 
And blew around in circles and uptore 

Tall trees from their strong footholds, stem and 
spray, 

Shaking them as a wild beast shakes his prey ! 



8o B LAN ID. 

No more the ambush followed ; yet the storm 
With tenfold fury raged, as on he flew 

Through hollows with the murderous lightnings 
warm, 
Through swollen and boiling torrents that upthrew 

Their treacherous waves round bright Lia Macha's 
form 
To clasp her, unavailing, till he drew 

Nigh to the valley of the Mead and Tree, 

And then the storm passed on and smote the sea. 

And the sun shone, and all the forest leaves 
Seemed hung with trembling glories glittering, 

The blithe red-breasted bird his song that weaves 
Upon the' hawthorn bush began to sing, 

And thrushes spoke, and the lone wight that grieves 
At dark gave forth a strain, and many a wing 

Of wood-doves struck the air, and blossoms sweet 

Laughed in the sunlight round Lia Macha's feet. 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 8 1 



And now from the strong charger he alit, 

And stroked her 'tween the ears, and led her 
down 

The mead, to where the brightest spot was smit 
By sunbeams till it glittered like a crown 

With jewelled blossoms ; then the golden bit 
He loosed and set her free, and with a frown 

Turned upward to the torrent's ridge of stone 

To think upon his misery alone. 

He sat upon the rocky ledge, while loud 

The river down its passage raged and roared 

That erstwhile sang, and o'er him from a cloud 
The forest eagle screamed as high it soared 

With voice of bitter anger, and a shroud 

The grass looked on the meadow, and there 
poured 

Out from his laden heart without relief 

This stammering to himself of deadly grief : — 



82 BLANID. 

" Earth, air, and sun, and moon and star, 
Of man's strange soul but mirrors are, 
Bright when the soul is bright, and dark 
As now, without one saving spark, 
While the black tides of sorrow flow^ 
And I am suffering and I know ! 

" To my sad eyes that sorrow dims 
The greenest grass the swallow skims, 
The flowers that once were fair to me. 
The meadow and the blooming tree, 
Dark as funereal garments grow, 
And I am suffering, and I know ! " 

Then stood he up, and, striding to and fro, 

He muttered, " Is she false ? Has she betrayed 

My presence to her sire ? Ah ! no, no, no ! 
It cannot be ! Her father's spies have played 

Their part within the wood ; and days shall grow 
To weary moons, and moons in years shall fade, 

Ere I behold her dear face, now she's gone. 

And lost to me for aye ! " And he went on : — 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 83 

" The measured sounds of dancing feet, 
The songs of wood-birds wild and sweet, 
The music of the horn and flute, 
Of the gold strings of harp and lute, 
Unheeded all shall come and go, 
For I am suffering, and I know ! 

" No kindly counsel of a friend 
With soothing balm the hurt can mend. 
I walk alone in grief, and make 
My bitter moan for her dear sake. 
For loss of love is man's worst woe, 
And I am suffering, and I know ! 

" Misery, companion dread. 
Thou art partner of my bed. 
Soul to soul will you and I 
Ever on the same couch he. 
While life's bitter waters flow. 
And I am suffering, and I know ! " 



84 



BLANID. 



Then cried he, " Shall I suffer till the hour 

When through the fated wound my soul shall 
fly? 

Can battlemented walls, or fosse or tower. 
Or king or vassal, shut her from mine eye ? 

No ! By my hand of valor ! if there 's power 
In sword and spear I '11 win her ere I die ! 

Nor time, nor tide, nor intervening sea, 

Nor bitter wave, shall be a bar to me ! " 

And now he called Lia Macha and bestrode 
Her bright back with its gay caparison. 

And through the glen and rain-wet forest rode 
In sorrow, till the river-mouth he won, 

Where lay his long-hulled galley, and where 
glowed 
The minstrel's robe th' embattled poop upon, 

As he sat waiting with his harp, again 

To greet the hero's ears with some blithe strain. 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 85 



And when the slant sun lit the waters wide, 
Lia Macha stood within her brazen stall 

Upon the galley's deck, and by her side 
Barana whinnied like the gladsome call 

Of friend to friend ; and favoring wind and tide 
Now turning to the west, the rocky wall 

Of Manas cliffs they left, and through the spray 

For sad Cuhullin's home they ploughed their 
way. 

And as the hero sat with gloomy look 

Gazing upon the land where mourned his love, 

Ferkertne without weeping scarce could brook 
His bitter woe, and with sweet language strove 

To soothe him, but such sorrow ne'er forsook 
Its prey for kindly pleadings. Of the grove 

In Mana and his heart's lost love and pride 

He only thought, and smote his breast and 
cried : — 



85 BLANID. 

" Can I think with a heart elate 

Of the looks and the smiles that won me, 
While the dreadful finger of fate 

With its touch of iron is on me ? — 
When I sleep in my grave alone 

Where the terror of darkness lies, 
The joy of her voice's tone, 
The glance of her love-lit eyes, 
Will pierce through the earth above me, and bid me arise ! 
arise ! 

" For the pitiless bitter wave 

Of mine early doom must devour me, — 
But the laurels that deck the grave 

Of the valiant dead will embower me ; 
And perchance in the years to come. 
In the fondness of tears and sighs. 
She may lean o'er my lonely tomb, — 
Then up to her sobs and cries. 
Through the earth and the tangled grasses, my wakened 
soul will arise ! " 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 87 

Then thought flew after thought on pinions fleet 
Through his wild brain, and as they darker 
grew, 

Despair, the obscene bird with taloned feet, 
Tore at his heart, and every breath he drew 

Seemed fire, until he thought how heroes meet 
And fall, and then he saw the ghastly dew 

Of death on him, and the black battle-crow 

Perched on him on the red field lying low. 

Then smote he at his breast again, and cried, — 
" Is this the end of all ? Alas ! will she. 

My love ! my love ! no more be at my side 

In the strange land with Gods where I shall 
be, — 

With Gods and heroes in the angry pride 
Of a forlorn heart ? Alas ! with me 

Will she abide again ? Perchance she may 

Walk by my side through the eternal day ! " 



88 BLANID. 

Now went he where the minstrel sat, and took 
The harp from him, and with in-gazing eye 

Drew his hand o'er the golden strings, and strook 
A strain, and, as when 'mid the mountains high 

An eagle questing o'er the roaring brook 

Feels through his breast the archer's arrow 

fly, 

With dreadful voice he cries his cry of pain, 
Darkening the wet gray sands with bloody stain ; — 

So rose the hero's wild and fierce lament, 

And the brown sailors heard it, and strong 
fear 

Fell on them, till the minstrel sighing went 
And took his hand in his, and said, " The bier 

Holds not thy loved one yet ; and discontent. 
And grief, and the despair that hath no tear. 

And hath no action, ne'er can win thee back 

Thy love across the field that knows no track. 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 89 



" Sit by me here upon the poop, and list 

To this my tale of one whom, like thee now, 

Misfortune, the dread hag, had wooed and kissed 
And lured unto her bed, but whose bright brow 

Sunlike arose from the foul vampire's mist, 
As thine will yet, when, like my hero, thou. 

Not by weak grief, but deeds of valor bold, 

Shalt win thy love ! " And thus his tale he told : — 

THE WINNING OF AMARAC. 

To each man's heart a kingdom fair is given : 
Mine is girt round by lakes and silver seas 

And green sky-piercing mountains thunder-riven. 
With forests at their foot and flowery leas ; 

And I can make that kingdom hell or heaven 
As the fierce winds of passion burn and freeze. 

Or the soft airs of reason waft life's hours 

On silent wings of peace through sun and showers. 



90 



BLANID. 



Within my kingdom all things are that seem 
Before the Poet's eye : there sunny lands 

Outspread in glory where bright castles gleam 
From hill-tops, and beside the golden sands 

Of fairy lake, or sea, or singing stream, 
Rise palaces wherein the snowy hands 

Of ladies ever young and fair as May 

Weave garlands for the knights who pass the way. 

And there spread fastnesses of rock and wood 
Wherein the tawny lions ramp and roar, 

And the great bear stalks by the sounding flood, 
And wild deer graze the moorlands, and the 
boar 

And wolf and fox, as nature made their mood, 
Come forth and show themselves, and forests 
hoar 

Teem with bright birds and insects, and all things 

Of Fairy haunt the brooks and bubbling springs. 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 91 



And oft I see these fairy beings pass 

Before mine eyes, and oft they sing to me 

Sweet songs, as dancing o'er the fragrant 
grass, 
Flower-garlanded, in royal pageantry 

They crowd some forest meadow, but, alas ! 
Howe'er by wood or stream I hear or see 

These people of the Sid, in heart and brain 

Only some echoes of their songs remain. 

I walked alone .within my kingdom fair 

And heard them singing from the branchy 
side 

» 

Of a wild wood, till the still evening air 
Pulsed with their music, and the silver tide 

Of a young mountain stream that wimpled there 
Forgot its murmuring, and the carols died 

Of birds beside the lake, that, listening 

As I did, heard the Spirit People sing: — 



92 BLANID. 

" O where could we, Spirits, sport in a hollow 

Of vernal beauty so sweet as this, 

Where two streams, meeting, in laughter kiss 
And sing towards the lake, till the light winds follow, 

Entranced with their music, through sun and shade, 
Where flies in the first of the spring the swallow 

To his flower that waits in the windy glade ? 

" Here the doves in the tall green pines are cooing, 
Here the linnet sings from the gorse's gold,. 
And the lark soars high o'er the morning wold. 

And the cuckoo comes at the year's renewing, 
Calling from heaven, ' Awake ! awake ! 

O flowers and grass, to the South-wind's wooing ' 
And the soft rain's kisses by stream and lake ! * 

" Here springs our well of the sacred water. 

Here droops o'er its crystal the Rowan-Tree 

With its berries red as the red lips be 
Of the bright-haired Amarac, Fierne's daughter, 

Who sits 'neath its shadow and calls and cries, 
* From the stricken plain, from the ridge of slaughter. 

Can my love come back ? Can the dead arise ? ' " 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 



93 



Her love : — alas ! she loved a mortal knight 

Who from the south and strong Tintagel 
came, 

Singing upon his harp the deeds of might 
Wrought by his hand, and ever seeking fame 

With valiant heart in tourney and in fight ; 
And ladies' smiles and warriors' loud acclaim 

Met him where'er he went, till one still morn 

He woke from sleep 'neath Fierne s elfin thorn. 

He woke, and looking through the silver mist 
In which the young dawn wraps itself enwoven 

With films of gold, saw o'er him sunrise-kissed 
Tall pinnacles of rock, and, earthquake-cloven, 

A gorge beneath, a lake of amethyst 

In the reflected light, with rocks uphoven 

Like towers around its brink, save where the 
dawn 

Faced it, and there outspread a grassy lawn. 



94 



BLANID. 



And on that lawn, where the sweet waters speed 
Out from the lake, he saw the snowy kine 

Of Amarac upon the blossoms feed 
In silence, and beheld the Maid divine 

Standing beside the stream in golden weed, 

Watching the first red beams of morn to 
shine 

Upon her white-backed herd, when she and they 

Would fade in mist from mortal sight away ! 

He looked and loved ; she looked and loved him, too ; 

But as he rose up from his grassy bed 
To clasp her to his burning heart, she knew 

Her father's weird was on her, and she fled 
With her white herd into the lake that, blue 

Like molten sapphire, in a moment spread 
O'er them, with mystic echoes sweetly ringing 
Round the calm shores ! But hark the Spirits' 
singing ! — 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 95 

" To the ends of the earth 

Did the noble knight wander, 
And the sounds of his mirth 
Were the battle-field's thunder, 
As he laughed like the Morn in her stormy attire ; 
And his foemen were scattered as straw in his ire, 
And he trod on their necks 
And he clove them asunder 
And consumed them with fire ! 

" But we followed him far 

As his fierce passion bore him, 
His moon and his star 
That one image before him ; 
And in safety he looked upon war's brazen gleam, 
In safety he slumbered by meadow and stream, 
For we moved by his side, 
And our wings fluttered o'er him, 
And we calmed him in dream ! 

" Then we placed in his breast 
The black Pearl of Soitow, 
And his passion's unrest 
Died away on the morrow, 



96 



BLANID. 



And we soon lured him back to her mountains, to slake 
His thirst in our well and her calm crystal lake, 

And to talk with his soul 

That its darkness might borrow 
Some light for her sake ! " 

Once more he slept, once more he woke, and then 
Rose from his grassy couch, and 'neath a tree 

That drooped its branching glories by the glen, 
Hid himself till the dawn rose and the lea 

Showed its sward prankt with fresh flowers, and 
again 
Out from the depths of that small crystal sea 

The snowy-backed and pink-eared cattle came 

With Amarac ere rose the morn's full flame. 

He stcpt from his concealment, and besought 
Her love in burning words that brought the tears 

To her compassionate eyes, and gently wrought 
Within her heart strange yearnings and quick 
fears ; 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 



97 



But soon her memory stung her, and distraught 
With sorrow for his mournfulness, she nears 
The margent of the lake, and with her kine 
Under its waters hides her head divine. 

He dropt upon the grass, as one whom dead 
A lance-but strikes in battle, and he lay 

'Neath the tree's shadow on the moist cold bed 
Of grass and flowers, until the glorious day 

Reached the blue lake from the bright mountain 
head ; 
Then sprang he on his steed, and went his way 

Through the wide world redressing sin and wrong 

With harp and sword. But hark the Spirits' song ! — 

FIRST SPIRIT. 

" Where the vapors thicken 
Through the city's ways, 
And the people sicken 

In the pisi^soned blaze 
5. « 



98 BLANID. 

Of the sun that rots the swamp, 
There beside the failing lamp 
Of the lowly and the stricken 
He hath stood to cheer and quicken 
With his harp life's dying rays ! 

SECOND SPIRIT. 

" Where tyrants darkened the light 
In the hearts of mankind 
With the tortures of famine and blight 
And the shackles that bind, 
There his broad pennon streamed to the wind 

And the weak ones arose and followed. 
And the strength of the tyrants melted away, 
Like the blood-red eve of a stormy day, 
In the jaws of the battle swallowed ! 

FIRST SPIRIT. 

" He turned in a waking dream 

From the home of the rising morn, 
Lured by her deep eyes' gleam 
To the land where his love was born ; 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 99 



And no doorway of joy would ope, 

No cloud from his soul depart, 
Till the gold-bright Pearl "of Hope 

We placed o'er his loving heart. 
. Then his harp-strings rang by the river 

And his voice upswellecUby the shore. 
Till the leaves o'er his long plume quiver 

By the stream and the lake once more." 

Again he watched and waited : by his side 

He held his gold-stringed harp, and stooping 
stood 
'Neath the embowering leaves that near the 
tide 
Drooped and concealed him, till the many- 
hued 
Yoimg Dawn arose, and ere the rabbit spied 

Her favorite bloom-beds, and the callow brood 
Of the wild duck awoke, upon the mead 
Came Amarac her snowy kine to feed. 



100 BLANID. 

And now he touched his harp, and soft and low 
The strings spoke to his fingers, and anear 

The kine drew in the ever-brightening glow 

Of the calm dawn, while one, unknown to 
fear, 

The infant of the herd, with footsteps slow 

Came nigher still, and stood with raptured ear, 

As if she ne'er again cared to behold 

The buttercups that turned her teeth to gold. 

And still the sweet strings spoke, and nearer yet 
To the green tree the large-eyed listener drew 

With dainty footsteps that scarce seemed to fret 
From the young flowers and grass the diamond 
dew. 

Then stooped the player ; down his harp he set 
Beside the tree, and from his ambush flew 

And grasped the bright-backed offspring of the morn 

By one pink ear and by one budding horn ! 



THE DESPAIR OF CL'HULLIN. loi 



A hurrying by the lakelet and a cry ! 

A sparkle in his eyes ! No more, no more 
He held his little captive ; — with a sigh 

He turned, and on the meadow's blossomed floor 
His love stood near the stream-bank bright and 
shy 

As a young sea-gull on some sunny shore, 
And spoke to him. " O love ! " she said, " O love ! 
O dear one, well thy fealty thou dost prove ! 

" O dear beloved one, I weep for thee, 

I 've wept and weep for thee, but not in vain, 

And I will seek this spot and hallowed tree 

And yearn for thee and think of all thy 
pain I 

But go, beloved ; the Rovers of the sea 
Fasten upon thy land their cruel chain ; 

One trial more, until thy land rejoices 

At thy best deed ! " But hark the Spirit voices ! — 



I02 BLANID. 



FIRST SPIRIT. 

He went forth like a meteor of morning, and the rocks 

felt the hoofs of his steed, 
He tore through the fords of the rivers, and he furrowed 

the swards with his speed. 
And the lances that gathered around him were thick as 

the larches that shake 
In the broad shaggy woods of Bengara, when the whirl- 
wind sweeps down from the lake ; 
And his shout was the cry of the eagle, and his charge 

was the shock of the sea 
When it rolls with its tide and its tempest and swallows 

the sands ; and the tree 
Of his long spear uplifted his pennon like the terror of the 

moon in eclipse, 
Till it fluttered in the winds of his triumph and the foemen 

fell back to their ships ; 
But alas for the broad-barbed arrow and its swift path of 

woe through his side, 
And the bowstring of fury that winged it ere the last of 

the red Rovers died ! 

SECOND SPIRIT. 

His soul soared high o'er the battle wrack, 

But we hovered around her and brought her back, 



THE DESPAIR OF CUHULLIN. 



103 



Brought her back through the passage narrow, 

The bitter road of the barbed arrow, 

And we opened his eyes, and he looked around 

On the ruined things of the foughten ground, 

And we saw in his quick-returning sense 

His life's fair purpose and thought intense ; 

And we scattered the clouds of his battle-swound, 

And we placed her gift on his ruddy wound, 

Her heart's bright treasure, all gifts above, 

The rose-red Pearl of perfect love ! 



I hear a horse-tramp echoing from the dell ! 

He comes gay glittering up the ferny pass ! 
I see bright Amarac beside the well 

Trembling, till in a gleam of gold and brass 
He leaps from his strong steed ! Ah ! who can 
tell 

Their happiness ? The flowers amid the grass 
Laughed brighter, and the birds sang by the shore 
To see these lovers meet and part no more ! 



I04 



BLANID. 



" What think'st thou now, O mournful one ? Can 
this, 

Thy morn of life unclouded all glide on ? 
See what things happed to mar my hero's bliss, 

And how with hopeful heart he fought and won, 
Won even his love, — his love so sure to miss, 

So hard to win ! And now life's currents run 
Against thee, yet keep high thy heart, and ne'er 
Let black misfortune bring thee to despair ! " 

Next eve, with grateful heart and farewells kind, 
The minstrel southward rode, and for his train 

Two pages took, and three young steeds the wind 
Could not outstrip, three hounds with bell and 
chain. 

Three hawks of Guydilod ; yet in his mind 
A dark unrest grew and a secret pain, 

Thinking what cureless woes this love might bring 

To strong Cuhullin, Blanid, and his King ! 



THE TAKING OF MAN A. 105 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 



O AID Mora in the garden, " He is gone ! 

But fear thou not, for in the hall to-day 
As the great storm subsided, I asked one 
About thy love who in the ambush lay, 
And he replied, ' Some bright God by the Sun 
Sent down to earth he seemed, as in the ray 
Of lightning he rushed through us, and his shout 
Worse than the thunder was and storm's wild 
rout ! ' 
5* 



I06 BLANID. 

** What think'st thou now of love ? " Then Blanid kept 
Her glance fixed on the ground awhile, and wrung 

Her lovely hands, and with wild passion wept 
As though her heart would burst, but from her 
tongue 

No answer came ; while Mora nigh her crept 
And kissed her cheek and said, " The bards have 
sung 

Thy fame throughout the world, and thinkest thou 

That he '11 forget ? that he forsakes thee now ? 

" I know not love, but yet I know fond eyes ! 

And each sad morn when thou from him didst part, 
O mistress fair, I marked his tear-drops rise 

And his great bosom heave, and saw him dart 
Sweet glances back on thee ; and as for sighs, 

He sighed as doth the merchant for his mart 
Of jewels, when 'mid wrath and pillage born 
The robbers come and leave him all forlorn. 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 107 

" Who sighs like him will ne'er his love desert, 
But, like my brother, when his bride he sought, 

The fair Brigantian, Nera ; — as thou wert 

These days she was, she loved him, till she 
brought 

Upon his head her father's ire ; — begirt 

For war my brother sailed the sea and fought 

For love and Nera, and with sword and fire 

And fifty galleys reft her from her sire. 

" So he will come and take thee, and when I, 
In other days, shall grow to womanhood, 

Some lovely lord with heart and courage high 
May spread his sails and plough the salty flood 

And win me for his bride, and when I die 

May weep for me ! " Then up the bright one 
stood, 

Folding the Chatterer in her fondling arms. 

Half comforted and cured of love's alarms. 



I08 BLANID. 

And still increased her fame : on winged feet 
Rumor danced round the world with cap and 
bells, 

Jangling his foolish music wild and sweet 

All in her praise, from courts where empire dwells 

In glory, to the babbling village street, 

Casting o'er all a glamour of strange spells, 

Till no man's head or heart or soul was free, 

And the world bound in love's strong slavery. 

Then rose throughout the lands a threatening hum, 
Man's savage growl to taste forbidden fruit, 

And those who in her presence erst were dumb. 
Or wooed her with sweet songs of harp and lute, 

Now set their passions free, — grew venturesome 
With bloody sword and spear to press their 
suit, 

And leagued and schemed till their invading sails 

Shadowed the deep and swallowed all the gales. 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 109 



And like thick flocks of gulls that from afar 

Strain landward in white myriads when the storms 

Out on the ocean wage their thundering war, 
From northern coasts the slant sun scarcely 
warms, 

From east and west, from 'neath the southern star. 
From continent and sea-beat isle, in swarms, 

With sails spread wide and pennons flying gay. 

The mustering ships thronged bright Dun Dalgan's 
bay. 

From far Hispanian mountain crests that lower 

Over the wallowing bay of Biscany, 
Batanjos came with all his vassal power 

In twelve long galleys laboring up the sea. 
His prow a Wolf, his ensign a high Tower, 

His men in armor glittering barbarously ; 
Fierce were their looks and savage was their speech 
Like growling of wild waves on Lora's beach. 



no BLANID. 

Next from strong Gallia's shores Toutillos came 
Whose conquering sword oft crossed the Roman 
blade. 

The heart that throbbed within his mighty frame 
Was love-sick now at thought of that fair maid ; 

His followers trod the decks with eyes of flame, 
And flashing arms, and heavy helms arrayed 

With head-skins of great beasts whose gorgon look 

The weak beholder's heart with terror shook. 

From where the Sea Ploughers bored the glistening 
sod 

For ores by toppling crags of Cornuaille, 
Stout Penon came with ensign flying broad 

And gilded pine-tree mast and silken sail 
Phoenician-like ; the lord of Guydilod, 

Mathonwy, in his plumes and painted mail, 
Across the tumbling waves behind him bore 
With seven tall ships from wild Brigantia's shore. 



THE TAKING OF MANA. m 

Like a fierce sea-hawk from its savage nest, 
Down from the woody shores of Caledon, 

Dara was there in ruffling tartans drest 
With shining eagle plumes his helm upon ; 

With him five chiefs the self-same amorous quest 
Sought from their windy homes where billows 
run 

With ceaseless clamor loud before the breeze 

Of Orkney and the wave-worn Hebrides. 

From stern Norwegian valleys, well bedight 
In armor of stout bull-hide studded o'er 

With scale of brass and boss of silver bright, 

Tall Broder came with nine ships, and the 
shore 

Resounded like strong thunder in the night. 
As his fierce followers with loud uproar 

Leaped from the bulwarks knee-deep in the wave. 

And to the strand in long lines shouting drave. 



112 BLANID. 

And Erin sent her lords and chiefs of pride, 

Their vaUant hearts by love's enchantment 
led, 

From coasts where morn salutes Kilmantan's side, 
To Mizzen and Kinsala's ancient head ; 

From west and north, to where with sunset dyed, 
Ben Borka seeks the stars o'er ocean's bed. 

And inland from the mighty flood that drains 

Heberian hills and Heremonian plains. 

Now on the gathered ships slow fell the night. 
And the sky oped o'er earth her jewelled page, 

And in Dun Dalgan's hall of festive light 

The thronging warriors met for council sage ; 

Over their heads the white lamps glittered bright 
On arms that oft had stemmed the battle's 
rage. 

On brazen harnesses and helms of gold 

And flags and trophies of the days of old. 



THE TAKING OF MAN A. 113 

And fast the goblets flowed, and clear and sweet 
The minstrels on their harps began to play, 

While heroic poems' flowing rhythmic feet 

Danced from their mouths, and many a shorter 

lay 

Of love was sung with heavenly joy would greet 

The dullest ear, till in his bright array 
Of war upstood the Gaul, Toutillos strong. 
And thus in soldier's words addressed the throng : — 

" Comrades ! some hero must command this quest 
Over us all for high achievement good, 

Some man of wondrous soul whom all the rest 
.Can follow, and, if fate wills, wade through 
blood 

For honor and for love ; and in my breast 
On the high place one hero long hath stood. 

Brighter than all by fame's effulgence lit, 

CuhuUin, in whose bannered hall we sit ! " 



114 



BLANJD. 



Then turned he to Dun Dalgan's lord. " To thee, 
Strongest of heroes, prince of high renown, 

And topmost flower of valor's stately tree, 

I give my voice, and droop my pennon down ; 

Her father was thy dead sire's enemy, 
Then do thou lead, and bright success shall 
crown 

Our enterprise ! " And through the echoing hall 

Assent the heroes shouted one and all. 

Now stately rose Cuhullin : " O brave peers, 
I may not say ye nay, the more that I 

Have seen her, that these glad, enraptured ears 
Heard her delightful voice in days gone by ; 

But ere we win her, many a grove of spears 

And many a man and cloven shield shall 
lie 

Along the smoking breaches as we cross 

With victor feet her castle's circling fosse ! " 



THE TAKING OF MAN A. 115 

And so it fell that ere the jewels red 

That deck Dawn's golden sandals lit the 
sky, 
Raising the anchors from their oozy bed 

The sailors their strong cables 'gan to ply. 
And as the sun upraised his burning head 

Over the bulging waves, afar and nigh, 
Scattered along the breezy waters free, 
The great fleet sailed for Mana of the Sea. 

Deep in a vale the Hold of Mana stood. 

Where many a dell with falling streamlets rang. 

Where trees their blossomy raiments from each 
wood 
Flaunted, and all day long the wild-birds sang; 

Yet not so far from Ocean's restless flood 

But one might smell the salt and hear the clang 

Of sea-birds and the muffled sound of waves 

Rumbling in hollow thunder through the caves. 



1 1 6 BLANID. 

Far other sounds that castle soon shall hear 

Than songs of birds and murmurs of sweet 
streams, 

From iron rams' rock-splintering, ponderous gear, 
From catapults' loud-clashing chains and beams ; 

Yet little does the old King fret or fear, 

But sits from day to day like one in dreams 

Of great exploits and actions to be done 

When the strong leaguer draws his hold upon. 

What should he fear within his lordly hold, 
Through middle air by magic might uphurled, 

Built by his foresire, Mananan, of old, 
A wonder and a glory to the world? 

Three giant walls its broad girth did enfold-, 

Three shining fosses like great serpents 
curled 

Between them, by three brazen bridges spanned, 

With brazen gates wrought by no earthly hand. 



THE TAKING OF MAN A. 



117 



'Tween the two outward fosses and high walls 
Laughing in light the lovely garden spread, 

One fair expanse of bloom, with waterfalls 
And singing runnels from the fountain fed ; 

There lived no noisome thing that creeps or crawls. 
There glad birds sang with notes would wake 
the dead, 

And flowers of every clime and every hue 

In nurtured bed or glade of wildness grew. 

High o'er the towered walls twelve faces bright 
To the green woods that castle did display, 

Whereon the figures of the Months were dight 
With cunning art in wonderful array ; — 

There was chill January clad in white, 
And February sullen, cold and gray. 

And March would through the budding green- 
woods go, 

A blustering boy with bright face all aglow. 



Il8 BLANID. 

There April stepped the daisied pastures through 
In azure gown with girUsh smile most sweet, 

Bale pansies, primroses, and violets blue 
Sprang up where'er she set her dainty feet ; 

And May, her laughing sister, — seemed she 
flew 
Over the spangled meads in joy to greet 

Bright June, the lovely queen of all the flowers, 

Enthroned amid her ever-blooming bowers. 

And there was strong July, the lusty swain. 

Knee-deep amidst the new-mown meadow grass, 

And August, jolly farmer, on his wain 
Of golden corn by orchards ripe did pass, 

One hand upon the poppy-wreathed rein, 

One beckoning to a brown-cheeked country 
lass, 

Buxom September, bright-eyed, rose-lipped, clad 

In russet not too gay and not too sad. 



THE TAKING OF MAN A. 



119 



Next like the remnant of a kingly man 

October 'mid the brown woods brooding came ; 

Him followed, as though 'neath some withering ban, 
November sour, a wrinkled spitfire dame, 

Then he whose steps had. reached life's farthest 
span, 
Hoary December, wheezing, hobbling, lame. 

Bent double o'er his crutch and very lean, 

And all but dead from palsy, pains, and spleen ! 

High towering o'er these wondrous imageries 
Shot up a world of gilded dome and vane, 

Pinnet and fretted roof, like phantasies 

That run at full moon through a madman's 
brain ; 

And could you through its crystal galleries 

And golden halls and bowers hear fitting strain. 

One long-drawn dream of glory none could tell 

Would hold you many an hour beneath its spell ! 



120 BLANID. 

Within the garden on the fragrant grass 

Sat Blanid with her bower-maid at the noon 

Of a still day, and made the fond hours pass 
With talk of love, the ever-living boon 

Of the almighty Gods, that yet, alas! 

Oft treads upon our souls with angry shoon ; 

And Blanid said, " I know, howe'er it be, 

That some great horror now approacheth me ! 

" Rumor is busy now, and tells his tale 

This way and that, how 'cross the heaving brine 

For Mana's shore each ship of war doth sail 
That e'er was built ; and what joy can be mine. 

Well knowing that ev'n here shall rise our wail 
Some day for my sire's loss, that we shall 
pine 

Captives of some dread lord whose looks shall 
lower 

And slay us as the east wind slays the flower ? " 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 121 

*' What fearest thou," said Mora, " of thy doom ? 

The minstrels sing thy lover's praises loud ; 
One look from his kind eyes will chase the 
gloom 

That chills thy heart. Remember ye are vowed 
Soul unto soul forever. He will come. 

And, like the royal eagle from the cloud 
'Midst little hawks contending for the prey, 
He '11 swoop and bear thee to his home away ! " 

But nathless Blanid wept, and in her grief 

Asked for the lute, and said, " To yonder 
dell 

Go thou and bring me dewy flower and leaf 
Of roses, that unwitnessed I may tell 

Some thoughts unto my love, for no reprief 
My heart has in his absence ! " By the well 

She sat alone, her blue eyes filled with tears, 

And sang unto her love her hopes and fears : — 
6 



122 BLANID. 



SONG. 



" I walk in dreams 'mid heavenly hills, 
I hear the music of their rills, 
Their wild-birds sing, their zephyrs play, 
In greenwoods of eternal May. 

" I see their morn and sunset gleams 
Far glittering over lakes and streams, 
Where happy spirits born to love 
Disport by fragrant bank and grove. 

" Amidst those spirits everywhere. 
By lake and stream and forest fair, 
With gladsome heart, with sweet suq^rise, 
I see thee and thy smiling eyes. 

" And as I feel thy radiant glance, 
My fears retreat, my hopes advance, 
The hemlock, grief, hath lost its bane, 
The rose of joy is mine again. 

" Then oh ! perchance these visions come 
As messengers from some fair home. 
Some world of bliss and constancy 
Bright after death for you and me ! " 



THE TAKING OF MAN A. 



123 



" O love ! O love ! " she cried, " couldst thou stand 
by us 

On the dark day of doom that comes so fast, 
In glorious wage of war the world might try us 

And reap defeat and ruin, and, aghast 
With terror at thy hand of valor, fly us, 

But ah ! my sire, relentless to the last ! 
He will not see my tears, or hear thy suit. 
But thirsts for vengeance and war's bitter fruit ! " 

By this young Mora from the dell of flowers 

Came with one hand beneath her robe, and said, 

" I 've roamed and searched around the white-rose 
bowers 
But found none fit for thee, nor through the red : 

At last I reached a sward of sun and showers 
Whereshone these lovelyblooms I brought instead, 

These gems that deck the garden's fairy spots, 

Wild hyacinths and sweet forget-me-nots." 



124 



BLANID. 



And then she bared her nimble hand and laughed, 
. And, holding up the flowers, said, " Here they 

are ! 
These blue-bells, in the gentle poet's craft 
Emblems of constancy, and, dearer far, 
These beautiful forget-me-nots that quaffed 

The cool dew when the blinking morning star 
Rose o'er the hill ! Here, take them, and be sure 
As that thou 'It kiss them his love will endure ! " 

And Blanid took the flowers and in their bloom 
Buried her rosy mouth. " Ah ! well I see," 

Then Mora cried, " how thy bright eyes illume 
One for remembrance, one for constancy ! 

But sit thee down. No more of grief and gloom ! 
Give me the lute and I will sing to thee 

The song that Tiernan made for me and taught 
me 

With the first bright forget-me-nots he brought me ! 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 125 



FORGET ME NOT. 

" The East Wind sprang into a lovely place, 
And cried, ' I '11 slay the flowers and leave no trace 

Of all their blooming in this happy spot ! ' 
And, as before his breath the sweet flowers died. 
One little bright-eyed blossom moaned and cried, 
* O woods ! forget me not ! forget me not ! 

" '• O woods of waving trees ! O living streams ! 
In all your noontide joys and starry dreams, 

Let me, for love, let me be unforgot ! 
O birds that sing your carols while I die, 
O list to me ! O hear my piteous cry ! 

Forget me not ! alas ! forget me not ! ' 

" And the Gods heard her plaint and swept away 
The bitter-fanged, strong East Wind from his prey. 

And smiled upon the flower and changed her lot. 
So now that, as we mark her azure leaf, 
We think of life and love and parting grief. 

And sigh, ' Forget me not ! forget me not ! ' " 



126 BLANID. 

And thus the hours were passed, while to their shore 
' Over the waters wide the ships drew near, 
Propelled by favoring wind and sturdy oar 

And thronged with valiant hearts that knew not 
fear, 
Plying, as to some stricken field of gore 

The prey-birds haste from rocks and deserts drear, 
With hungry eyes and eager wings outspread. 
To raven and to batten on the dead ! 

'Mongst wonders told by hardy sailor folk 
Who from hot climes their way of peril win. 

Some monstrous spider, just as morn has broke, 
O'er a cave's mouth his treacherous web doth 
spin. 

To wrap round robber wasps the fatal yoke, 
And flies and gilded gnats to catch therein, 

So sat the old King in his halls and planned 

Death to the coming raiders of his land ! 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 127 



At length it happed that, as one morn he chose 
To view his manned walls, with sour look and 
fell 

He saw the glancing banners of his foes 
Rising and falling with the ocean swell 

Over the bay, and, as next morn arose. 

From clouds of dust that choked the forest 
dell 

Flashed hostile sword and helm and bright cuirass 

And many an iron spear and shield of brass ! 

And like some orient grove that all in bloom 
Nods its tall blossoms to the swaying breeze, 

With myriad mantles gay, with crest and plume. 
With fluttering flags and war's best braveries. 

Emerging from the dusky valley's womb, 
From forest path and pass, his enemies 

Over the open meads, far shining, wound, 

Encompassing his stronghold round and round ! 



128 BLANID. 

Ere the hot sun had set, their ordered camp, 
White tent and silk pavilion, gleamed like gold 

Smit by his rays, and tramp re-echoed tramp 
Of sentinels around the glittering wold ; 

And on the castle walls, when rose night's lamp, 
Her silvery rays glimmered with radiance cold 

On swords and spear-points thick as autumn 
corn 

Ready for fight and waiting for the morn. 

And when the next sun's life-inspiring rays 

Smote the moist meads and dried the pearly dew, 

A herald, his gay tabard all ablaze 

With broideries rich, slow toward the castle 
drew 

And halted nigh the fosse, his fearless gaze 
Bent on the foe awhile ; then shrilly blew 

His trumpeter three warning blasts, and then 

He spoke his message unto Mana's men. 



THE TAKING OF MAN A. 



129 



Prompt to the message came the thundering clang 
Of a great arblast's chain, and then down bore 

A bolt that through the bright air whizzed and 
sang, 
And nigh their feet the sunny greensward tore ; — 

High o'er the grass the trumpeter upsprang 
And turned his back and fled in panic sore, 

The haughty herald pacing slow behind 

With stately step and unperturbed mind ! 

Whereat, along the weapon-bristling walls 

Pealed a great laugh that made the valleys ring, 

And from the camp uprose the captains' calls. 
With clash of arms and noise of marshalling, 

Till from the forest's sunny intervals 

Out rushed the hosts in long lines glittering, 

With shout and threatening clang, and many a 
note 

Defiant from the trumpet's brazen throat. 



I30 



BLANID. 



Then javelins sang their death-songs as they flew 
With sharp, shrill clangor swift from foes to 
foes, 

And clouds of feathered darts obscured the blue, 
Huge engines thundered and great cries arose ; 

And louder and more wild the clamor grew. 
As when a storm at morn begins and blows 

With gathering fury, till, ere night's dull shade, 

The tall trees of the forest low are laid. 

So fought they, till the broad fosse deep and calm 
Was bridged with dead, and o'er that weapon-gored 

And ghastly ridge, the incessant thundering ram 
A yawning breach through the outward ballium 
bored : 

Then towering o'er his men, as towers a palm 
O'er the tall forest-trees. Dun Dalgan's lord 
Shouted his battle-cry, and with firm tread 
The fierce assault o'er the red ruin led. 



THE TAKING OF MAN A. 131 



High were their valiant hearts as they rushed in 
And planked the second fosse with small delay, 

Haling between them the remorseless gin 

That through the second ballium tore its way; 

Then rose above the high walls such a din 
As thunder makes, when on an autumn day 

The trembling wanderer hears its earthquake tone 

Rattling behind the ridgy hills of stone. 

Hard fought the heroes in that bold attack 

With all that men could do of bravery : 
Twice were they driven the bloody breaches back, 
Thrice inward drave as rolls Toth's plunging 
sea 
'Tween Skerry's Rocks, and with hearts nothing 
slack 
Of valiance, breast to breast, and knee to knee, 
Fighting they held the vantage they had won, 
Till on the turmoil sank the blood-red sun. 



132 



BLANID. 



As a young vestal with the sacred flame 
. Lights the gemmed arches of some temple dome, 
The moon from pearl-bright bowers then upward 
came, 

Flooding the heavens with light as on she clomb : 
On hills and lakes and woods she writ her name, 

Queen of repose, and her calm smiles brought home 
Quiet to marshalled camp and guarded hold, 
Till Morn awoke and shook her locks of gold. 

Then rose again the clang, the shout, the cry 
Of war from inward fosse and outward pale, 

And fast again the arrowy showers did fly 

From twanging bows thick as the rattling hail 

From thundering cloud and lightning-litten sky. 
And shields were split, and riven breast and 
mail 

Gave forth the souls of heroes, till the night 

Lowered o'er the woods, and still the clamorous fight 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 133 

Raged round the castle with redoubled roar 

Through all the long and lonesome hours of dark, 

As roll Moyle's wallowing billows on the shore 
Mixed with the mariners' cries ; and still their 
mark 

The axe and red glaive made of steaming gore 
On many a hero's front, until the lark 

Sang his thin song from heavenly meadows sweet 

Bright with the radiance of Dawn's rosy feet. 

And still the battle raged. Of great deeds done 
By strong Toutillos, Penon, and their peers 

What need to tell ? How Mana's heroes won 
High names of bright renown for after years ; 

How from the clashing catapults out spun 

The whizzing bolts through groves of splintering 
spears, 

Till the hot noon, when th' inner ballium broke 

Before the cruel ram's earth-shaking stroke. 



134 



BLANID. 



Then, as Dun Dalgan's lord prepared to cross, 
Beside the breach rosean unearthly sound 

From a huge wheel gray with ten centuries' moss 
That now 'gan turning slowly round and round. 

Until the weeds and waters of the fosse 

With ever-growing speed it churned and ground, 

While round the echoing walls the watchword 
ran 

Of " Gaily speed thy wheel, O Mananan ! " 

For there 'twas set in ages long gone by 

By Mananan, the Ruler of the sea, 
With many a magic rite the wall anigh, 

Better than stone a triple fence to be, 
And thus within they raised their triumph cry 

To Mananan, and clashed their shields in glee 
To see the wheel's tremendous vans below 
Smite the red fosse with many a sounding 
blow ; — 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 



135 



To see the broad fosse once as smooth as glass 
Driven in a tide no mortal power could stay, 

That almost choked the shuddering bridge of 
brass 
With whirling watery torrents white with 
spray ! 

It was a stream no living wight could pass, 
And thus, as smote the sun's retiring ray 

In red effulgence upon land and main 

The heroes met for council once again. 

With fierce eyes full of baffled rage and care 
And burning heart each hero told his need. 

Till all had spoken, yet no man would dare 
To tempt the magic tide's devouring speed ; 

Then 'midst them suddenly were they aware 
Of a tall warrior clad in brazen weed, 

Whose voice from out his hollow helmet broke 

Like a strong torrent's rumbling as he spoke : — 



136 



BLANID. 



" O valiant ones ! the yawning breach is red 
• With many a brave man's blood, but all in 

vain, 
For o'er the whirling moat may no man tread, 
The castle's shield of safety and your bane ! 
Yet here am I, and by my father's head, 

And by the Sun and Wind, I swear to gain 
Your passage to the hold, if you decree 
The brightest jewel there my choice to be! 

"See ye this magic spear? With its strong 
aid 

Can we alone the castle overthrow ; 
By a great Danaan smith of old 'twas made 

With many a potent spell against the foe 
And one against its master : — when its blade 

Is raised to strike, and strikes not a sure blow, 
Stayed by one thrill of fear, it hath the charm 
To wither for a moon the coward arm. 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 137 



" Then first at morn when the red sunbeams spring 
O'er the whale's restless home, again fall on, 

For I would hear the bolts of iron swing 

From the strong arblasts, and the shout and 
groan 

Of heroes, and the rattling javelins ring 

On the hard mail, and crash of falling stone 

From the high walls the earth around me shake, 

To swell this heart such deed to undertake ! " 

And so it was : and as the earth was dight 
By the glad Morn in robes of pearl and gold, 

The great sun's eye unblinking saw the fight 
Rage once again around that stubborn hold : 

And myriad deeds were done of matchless 
might 
In that stern fray, and myriad heroes bold 

Slept the long glorious slumber of the brave 

Beneath their earthen mounds by Mana's wave. 



138 



BLANID. 



There many a man's dim closing eye was cast 
In wonder at the strange Knight's glittering 
form, 

His spear-shaft sloped, like a tall galley's mast 
Bent slantwise by the buffets of the storm, 

As with grim frowning brows and footsteps fast 
Along the breach with heroes' heart-blood warm, 

'Mid showers of bolts and darts, like Crom the God 

Of Thunder, toward the magic wheel he trod. 

Now paused he for a space and looked, when, 
lo! 

Between him and the fosse erstwhile so near, 
There spread a stricken war-field, where the glow 

Fell lurid upon broken sword and spear ; 
And from a reedy marsh a javelin's throw 

Upon his right crept forth a thing of fear, 
A serpent vast, with crested head, and coils 
Would crush ten battle chargers. Like the spoils 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 139 

Of a great city gleamed his spotted back 

As from the trembling reeds his volumes rolled, 

Wide spread, approaching o'er the tangled wrack 
Of battle, his bright head now flashing gold, 

Now red, now green, now sapphire. On his track 
The hero stood in wrath, and with firm hold 

Raised high the spear that from his right hand sped 

Down crashing through the monster's burnished 
head. 

As he plucked forth his spear and still strode on, 
Out from behind a heap of slain there rose 

A dreadful beast with eyes that gleamed and 
shone 
In fury, like the eyes of one of those 

Twin Dragons of the Strife that ever run 
Beside the feet of Bava when she goes 

From the bright Mount of Monad with the brand 

Of war far flaring in her armed hand. 



140 BLANID. 

So flashed the beast's wild eyes, while o'er the dead 
He rushed to meet his foe ; as he drew nigh 

Uprose the glittering shaft and spear-point dread 
And then shot forth, and 'mid the fire-bright 
eye 

Pierced him through brain and body, on the bed 
Of war transfixing him ; then rising high 

The hero loosed his spear, and 'mid the slain 

Left him still writhing, and strode forth again. 

And, as he went, there rose at every rood 
Some monster dire his onward course to stay 

To the dread wheel, but through the demon brood 
He fearless broke, until before him lay 

A river whirling by of streaming blood. 

Shouting he plunged therein, and made his 
way 

Up the far bank, and raising high his spear 

Strode onward still across that field of fear. 



THE TAKING OF MANA. 



141 



Then rose from off the blood-stained fern a 
shape 

Tall, threatening, with a crown upon his head, 
Bright clad in gold and brass from heel to nape 

Of sturdy neck, and with a mantle red 
Wind-blown, that let the dazzling flashes 'scape 

Of the strong mail, as now with onward tread 
He strode, and raised his giant arm in wrath, 
To the great wheel to stop the hero's path ; — 

The hero who, now pausing, looked, and there 
Under the crown saw his dead father's face 

Approaching with fell frowning, ghastly stare 
Against him : yet no whit the hero's pace 

Was checked thereat ; — on high his spear he bare 
And pierced the Phantom's breast, and all the 
place 

Was empty now, and by the fosse's marge 

He felt the mortal arrows smite his targe. 



14^ 



BLANID. 



Then stood he like a tower and poised his spear, 
And lightning-like the fateful weapon flung, 

And lodged it in the wheel's loud-roaring gear, 
Firm fixed in the huge plank whereon 'twas 
hung; — 

No more the fosse whirled round with tide of fear, 
No more the magic engine thundering rung : 

Still as a frozen mill-wheel now it lay, 

And through the last breach open was the way. 

No minstrel's tongue, or taught in heaven or hell, 
Whate'er of pearls of price his harp adorn, 

Howe'er his fingers touch the strings, could tell 
The great deeds done upon that far-famed morn ; 

How amid heaps of slain the old King fell, 

How to the wood the Bloom-bright One forlorn 

And her fair maids were brought forth from the 
hold. 

With all the treasures of bright gems and gold. 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 143 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 



'T^HERE spread a lovely glade all cool and still 

Three javelin casts beyond the outer wall, 
Where bloomed their seasons wild-rose, daffodil, 

Fresh daisy, hyacinth, and foxglove tall. 
And many another flower at Nature's will : 

And there she stood, the sweetest flower of 
all. 
The Bloom-bright One, that eve, her maids amid. 
The glory of her eyes by tears half hid. 



144 



BLANID. 



There in barbaric splendor o'er the green 

Were strewn the spoils from stubborn Mana 
won, 

Broad golden bowls up-filled with sapphires sheen 
And diamonds that once in beauty shone 

On brow of Indian maid, or dusky queen 

Of realms that burn 'neath Afric's blinding sun, 

And chalices with pearls filled to the lips, 

Brought thitherward by wandering Tyrian ships. 

And there gleamed piles of linked armor gay. 
And helms with crests that shone like yellow 
fire, 

And plumes of that strange bird old legends say 
Springs to new life from its own burning pyre. 

And wondrous bucklers brought from far Cathay, 
And bright stuffs from the golden looms of Tyre, 

Baldricks and gilded torques and costly rings. 

And jewelled swords fit for the sons of kings, 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 



145 



And drinking cups with carven slender stems, 
Dishes of gold, and fairy baskets wrought 

Of pearl and silver filled with emerald gems 
Whose least would make ten misers' souls dis- 
traught. 

And opals upon quaint old diadems, 

And rubies on huge crowns of splendor brought 

By Mananan from many a royal head 

Of kingdoms by the sea long swallowed. 

Now on them from the reddening western skies 
The sun shone and a blaze of glory made, 

Ten thousand gnats and glistering dragon-flies 
And glowing moths seemed circling round the 
glade. 

And lizards' backs and myriad serpents* eyes 
Tremulous to gleam by fern and grassy blade, 

And all men wondered as they stood around 

To see such treasures spread on mortal ground. 
7 J 



146 B LAN ID. 

Amid these priceless hoards young Blanid stood 
With all her lovely bower-maids weeping sore, 

Her cloak fallen at her feet, her Tyrian hood 

Thrown back, her gown's blue radiance rippled o'er 

By her bright silken hair, a tawny flood 
That almost reached the smooth glade's emerald 
floor, 

Whereglancedthewhitepearlsonherbroidered shoon 

Like silver-glistening dew-drops 'neath the moon. 

And round the glade, leaning on their long spears, 
Stood the great knights, the marrers of her mirth. 

Who looked on her as though with doubts and 
fears 
That her bright beauty had no mortal birth ; 

For, nathless her keen sorrow and her tears, 
The red of all the roses of the earth 

Seemed on her lips, and in her eyes the blue 

Of all the violets that since Adam grew. 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 



H7 



Advanced beyond the throng and towering high 
Stood he whose might the magic wheel did 
tame, 

With spear in hand, the lightning of his eye 
From his barred helmet glinting like a flame, 

As drew Dun Dalgan's mighty lord anigh 

And spoke aloud : " O knight without a name, 

To whom we owe the castle's mastery, 

Choose now thy jewel, whatsoe'er it be ! " 

. Then strode he forth and laid his armed hand 
Upon the shrinking shoulder of the maid : — 

" I choose," he said, "this flower of all the land. 
This priceless gem in beauty's garb arrayed ; 

And if there be amongst this soldier band 
A lord or prince of honor so unstaid 

As now to say me nay, then I stand here 

To prove my well -won right with shield and 
spear ! " 



148 BLANID. 

There fell a surly silence on the throng, 

And all their valiant hearts grew cold as stone, 

Their knightly promise pledged, or right or wrong, 
To make the loveliest jewel there his own ; 

Wistful they stood and grieved, until erelong 
Burst from their laboring breasts a bitter groan 

Like the hoarse grumbling of the storm's last 
breeze 

Dying amid the sturdy forest-trees. 

What recked they now of gems and stores of gold 
But as poor gauds worthless in all men's eyes, 

As from their midst they saw the hero bold 

Through the green glades bear off the glorious 
prize. 

With her bower-maids, her foster-mother old, 
And a stout varlet of her house ? The skies 

Darkened apace, and the sun left them there 

Dumb as the hollow night in their despair. 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 



149 



The moon and stars shone bright on Mana's bay, 
The winds were still, the drowsy sailors slept, 

And all the mighty fleet in silence lay. 

When from the shadow that the huge rocks kept 

Over a little inlet bore away 

The galley of the Nameless Knight, and swept. 

With brawny arms and hands to ply the oar, 

Towards Borka's blue-bright peaks from Mana 
shore. 

Over its royal deck were all things strewn 
Fit for his weeping prize to rest upon. 

Gemmed seats carved o'er with many an ancient rune, 
Footstools, Ulidian webs of saffron lawn. 

Thick cloths of gold, the Persian's gorgeous boon, 
Gay Tyrian shawls that with strange brilliance 
shone, 

And Norland furs, and tawny lions' hides 

From the brown burning tracts that Nile divides. 



I50 



BLANID. 



Amidst them in her tameless agony 

Prone on the deck long lay the Bright One 
low, 
And yet no sighs would come her breast to free, 

No tears to lighten her sad weight of woe ; 
At length she sat her up, and piteously 

Crept nigh her foster dame, and to and fro 
Rocked herself, moaning like a wounded hind 
In a wild forest far from all mankind ! 

Then Mora crept anigh. " O child and friend ! " 
Said Blanid, *' now our night of life's begun, 

Our misery without a change or end ; — 

Where now are those kind Gods whose smiles 
we won 

With prayers ? Where now to shelter and defend 
The helpless ? While our hearts' sad currents run, 

No more, no more they '11 smile on us, and give 

The sweet joys back that made life worth to live ! 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 



151 



" No more, no more my father's face we '11 see, 
Smiling farewell at night ; alas ! no more 

Shall his fond arms of love be clasped round me 
For morning's welcome ; in the breach of gore 

He lies with stiffened hand, the enemy 

In piles around him heaped, his banner tore, 

His bright sword broken, and his nobles all 

Stretched stark beside him o'er red breach and 
wall. 

" And my beloved one, who with my sire 

Shared all my heart, woe, woe for me and him ! 

No more where laughs the foxglove's gay attire 
By the woodside we '11 meet. Destruction grim 

Hath plunged my native land in war's hot mire 
Of blood ! And now her fading shores grow 
dim!" — 

And down the Bright One fell, and, lying prone, 

Kept muttering to herself her parting moan : — 



152 



BLANID. 



" Farewell to thee, Mana beloved ! 

Forlorn as thou art ! 
Too well was thy valiance proved, 

Dear home of my heart ! 
•No more shall thy halls of glory 

Sound to the harp and flute ; 
Still, still is the minstrel's story, 

And the voice of the bard is mute. 

" Farewell to thee, Mana beloved ! 

Alab ! and alas ! 
Where the feet of my girlhood roved. 

From the tangled grass 
In my desolate place of roses 

The grim, gray wolf doth whine, 
And the bat 'mid the leaves reposes 

In the bowers that once were mine. 

" Farewell to thee, Mana beloved ! 

To thy guest-halls bright, 
Where the fingers of minstrels moved 

Unto sounds of delight ! 
Farewell to thy vale and forest. 

Thy cincture of sea-waves green, 
And the mantle of joy thou worest 

In the happy days that have been ! " 



[THE TEARS OF BLANID. 153 

Again crept Mora to her, whispering, 

" What ails thee, dearest ? Raise thy heart and 
cry 
Unto the Gods ! Perchance thy voice will bring 

Upon our hapless state their kindly eye ! 
Bethink thee of the fair ones whom the wing 

Of fortune flapped in anger ! Did they die 
In their first black despondency ? Ah, no ! 
They lived to see joy ending all their woe ! 

" Think of fair Etain's fortunate return 

To her fond lover's arms from Midir's land, 

Of young Fingalla and the Fairy Urn, 
Of Enna on the Sea isle, and of Fand, 

The princess who made many a brave heart 
burn, 
Neim, Fea, and Fininda of the strand, — 

She lived to see her sorrows pass away 

And marry three good husbands in her day ! 



154 



BLANID. 



" Arise, O darling of my heart ! arise ! 

A mother I will prove to thee erelong 
Far better than thy foster-dame, though wise 

Tenfold she looks there by the bulwark strong 
Sitting and gazing on us ! Lift thine eyes 

And kiss me, dearest ! Woe and bitter wrong 
May crush thee, yet, than me, thou 'It never 

find 
A mother, sister, friend, more fond and kind ! " 

But still no softening tears her eyes would bless, 
Till rose a light wind on the silver sea 

Singing amidst the sails : then her distress 
Seemed as a thing far off, and dreamily 

All things grew mixed, as in her weariness 

She laid her bright head on her fosterer's 
knee 

And slept till morning broke, then up she sat 

And moaned again, but yet no comfort gat. 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 



155 



And merrily hummed its song the galley's prore 
As fast it clave the blue sea's glassy plain, 

And through a winding inlet neared a shore 

Whose sunny woods smelt fresh from recent 
rain. 

Thereon they disembarked ; then seaward bore 
The lordly galley o'er the waves again, 

Till far away sank down its tall mast's stem. 

And left the Nameless Knight alone with them. . 

There spread a lovely bank 'twixt wave and wood 
Prankt o'er with sea-pink and blue violet. 

And there she sat a space in vacant mood 

And saw the flowers with hard eyes still un- 
wet ; 

Then a fond memory came and brought the blood 
Into her cheeks, and then a fierce regret 

For her lost home and all her happy years 

Burned in her heart, but yet she shed no tears ! 



156 



BLANID. 



Like to a startled, mournful mountain erne 

That sees its only fledgling droop and die, 
"And flaps her wings and screams along the 
fern, 
The foster-dame looked in that haggard eye 
With melting mother's heart that sore did yearn, 
Then clapped her hands and raised a woful cry 
Of sorrow, as one wails above the dead, 
But still no answering tears young Blanid shed ! 

Whereat the great Knight smote his sounding shield 
With deafening clang, and raised his voice 
aloud, 

And from the shelter of the leafy weald 

A tall squire led a war-horse prancing proud 

With brass-shod hoofs adown the flowery field. 
And head-plumes glancing like a tawny cloud, 

And jangling rein and red caparison. 

And glittering selle a King might sit upon. 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 157 

And after him another squire there came 
Leading an ambling palfrey white as snow, 

Fit for some princess or imperial dame, — 
With arched neck and stately pace and slow. 

With many a gem its bridle bright aflame. 
With pearls of price its saddle all aglow. 

Its housings azure silks and cloth of gold, 

A wonder and heart -gladness to behold ! 

Then other squires came forth with many steeds, 
Varlets with sumpter mules, and everything 

That thirst might yearn for, or that hunger 
needs. 
In depths of woods and far-off journeying ; 

And soon the bank's green grass and flowery 
weeds 
Smelt of the sweet repast, and in a ring 

Sat they around, maids, foster-dame, and squire. 

And feasted there to each one's heart's desire, 



1^8 BLANID. 

Save the bright Maid. Listless and sad she ate 
Her bitter crust without a sob or sigh, 

As one who dreams some doom all desolate 

Holds her in thrall she knows not where or 
why ; 

Then strong Ferkertne took his harp and sate 
Before her, and awoke with fervor high 

A melody would raise one from the tomb 

To melt her heart, but yet no tears would come ! 

Whereat Ferkertn^ whispered, " O thou flower 
Of constant womanhood, another strain 

May strike thy heart ! One day in wildwood 
bower 
I heard the man thou lovest sore complain. 

Singing to thee, as though by some God's power 
Thou wert beside him, while beyond the main 

In Mana's halls thou wert ! His words I'll sing 

To ope thy laden heart, thy tears to bring : — 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 



159 



SONG. 

" When the winds in the wood are still, 

And the lake sleeps calm in the hollow, * 

And the moon pours over the hill 
Her light upon glade and tree, 

I sit by the sparkling rill 

And my thoughts the fleet waves follow 
Like the flight of the early swallow 

To the summer of love and thee. 

" In the sapphire and rose of dawn 

When the lark from his nest is springing, 

And the dappled deer and the fawn 
Come down to the wood-stream's shore, 

I stand on the dew-bright lawn, 
And list to the skylark's singing, 
And think of thy sweet voice bringing 

Its thrill to my heart once more. 

" When the west is purple and red 
With the glory of sunset dying. 
And the waves to the sky outspread 
In the tremulous splendors bum. 



l6o BLANID. 

I stray by the ocean bed, 

The sea-birds around me flying, 
And think in my sadness, sighing, 

Of the hours that will ne'er return. 

" In the flight of the winged hour, 

In the changing of moon and season, 

The seed upsprings in the flower. 

And the flower 'neath the cold blast dies : - 

There is change in the Sun-God's power, 
There is death in the wind's unreason, — 
In a woman's heart is there treason ? 

Is there falsehood in woman's eyes ? 

. " I prayed to the Gods at noon 

That thou wouldst not hate or fear me, — 
I asked of the Gods a boon 

And they answered mine eager cry. 
For a Voice in the wind of June 

It answered that thou dost hear me, 

That thou in thy thoughts art near me 
However -the hours flit by ! " 



THE TEARS OF BLANTD. i6i 

Still stubborn sat the Bright One, into space - 
Looking as though some dreadful shape up- 
spran-g 

Before her, blotting out the sunny place 
With its black shadow as the minstrel sang ; 

Then hid she 'tween her hands her troubled face, 
Stricken like orchard flowers that listless hang 

When the frosts come and th' East's pernicious wind 

Blows on their bloom and leaves no life behind ! 

But when the war-horse pranced with joyous neigh 

Of pleasure at the moving melody. 
Up sat she, looking on his harness gay. 

And mused awhile, and then fond memory 
Brought back to her bruised heart the happy 
day, 

When 'mid the forest's sunny glades and free 
Rode up her heart's beloved on such a steed 
And slew the great bull in her hour of need. 



1 62 BLANID. 

Then, as an April morn awakes all red 

With blushes bright, to end in glistening showers, 

The crimson from her heart her cheeks o'erspread, 
Her breast heaved, and she dropt amid the flowers 

And swooned awhile, then woke and raised her 
head, 
Like the young Moon within her silver bowers. 

And torn with grief and racked with many fears, 

She wept but got no comfort from her tears ! 

Then heavy trouble fell on Ferkertn^, 

He knew not why, but as he gazed on her 

Strange voices whispered to him, " Thou art he 
That lovest her the best ! " and thoughts would 
stir 

Within his brain and through his strong heart flee, 
Shaking him as the hill-wind shakes the fir, 

As mournfully he sat there till the sound 

And bustling for departure echoed round. 



THE TEARS OF BLANID. 163 

Soon mounted they, and 'mid the forest green 
Went downward through the breezy perfumed 
dells, 

And sweetly the strong-towering trunks between 
Came back the tinkling of the palfrey's bells 

On the light wind, while flashed the sunlight sheen 
From spears and swords and fluttering pennoncels 

And caps and plumes and braveries golden gay. 

Till through the wild-woods south they passed away. 



1 64 BLANID. 



THE HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF 
BIERNA. 



(~\ LOVE ! O love ! Ofttimes a bitter guest, 

Ofttimes a golden joy without a stain, 
Lord of hard grief, of anger and unrest, 

Gift-giver of bright pleasure after pain ; 
O thou whose breath warmeth the hardened breast 
As wintry frosts by spring's sweet winds and 
rain, 
There 's blood upon thine arrows warm and red ! 
And why art thou with vengeance still unfed ? 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 165 

For where erstwhile thy sunny garden grew 
A pleasaunce of delight naught seemed to chill, 

Decked with all flowers that ever drank the dew, 
Vocal with bird and breeze and singing rill, 

Now nothing meets thy mournful victim's view 
But desert sand and rock and fierce-browed 
hill, 

Naked and grim, with clouds of gloom o'erspread 

Pouring misfortune's rain upon his head ! 

With heart forlorn his galley's deck he trode 
And sailed the sea to high Dun Dalgan's hall ; 

Nor long within its chambers he abode, 

But with sweet hopes all changed to bitter 

gall, 
And sorrow darkening his lonely road, 

He sought the hills, that song of waterfall 
And breeze within the wood and wild-birds' strain 
Might wake to gladness his sad heart again. 



1 56 BLANID. 

But though the wild-birds sang their sweetest lays, 
Though all the forest flowers bloomed in their 
prime, 
And the sweet winds beneath the summer rays 
Played 'mid the whispering leaves their lulling 
chime. 
Though many a brooklet down the greenwood maze 
Danced in blithe gladness, yet nor change nor time 
Could end his care or lighten his sad woe, 
Howe'er the birds might sing or breezes blow ! 

One day as he rode downward through a glen 
Whose sparkling stream made music as he sped, 

He came on hurrying groups of armed men 
Marching along the winding path that led 

Around a rock-encircled gloomy fen 
Unto a village green, whereon, adread 

Of something strange they halted, each one's hand 

Grasping with nervous grip the spear or brand. 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 167 

And there the priests were from the neighboring 
shrine, 

The villagers around them, young and old, 
Who, when they saw Cuhullin's harness shine 

Anear them with its links of brass and gold, 
Knew him for their own prince, and as strong wine 

Makes the faint-hearted ofttimes overbold, 
His presence raised their hearts, and boisterously 
They shouted like the roaring of the sea. 

Then one came nigh and said, " O prince and 
lord 

Of this our land and home, the Gods at last 
Take pity on our state, with one accord 

Sending thee to us, and our woe is past 
When thou, O hero ! helpest. By the ford 

Of Bierna, where the black flood hurries fast 
Out of the fen, there dwells a monster dire 
Whose wrath consumes us like a forest fire ! 



1 68 BLANID. 

And how he came we know not, but one day 
The birds sat still in garden, grove, and wood, 

Till the dark night fell, then each branch and 
spray 
Resounded with a weird, alarming flood 

Of music from their throats ; and when the gray 
Of Morn came, a great storm-cloud red as blood 

Rose in the east, and down the glen there bore 

Seven ravens with their long beaks dripping gore. 

And then the storm came rending sky and earth, 
And a thick darkness with it, and the flame 

Of lightning split in its demoniac mirth 

Yon sacred tree, and f^om the ford there 
came 

Roaring a monstrous wolf, that ne'er had birth 
Save from the nether Gods without a name, 

And into my fair brother's cottage burst 

And slew him, child and wife, with jaws accurst ! 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 169 

And since each night he rushes from his lair, 
Slaying both child and man ; and shield and 

spear 

Seem naught against him, and the young and fair 

Sweet morsels are to him, and thus we fear, 
O prince ! his vengeance fell, though trembling care 

Will leave our doubting hearts now thou art here 
To rid us of the pest ; but hark the moan 
Of the bereaved ones for their joys o'erthrown ! " 



FIRST PRIEST. 

The Pest of the Fiends hath won us, 

The Bringer of woe is nigh, 
No friendly Gods smile on us, 

Or list to our wail and cry ! 
Our word is the foam that flashes 

Down the torrent, to fade and pass. 
Our prayers are but dust and ashes, 

Our wish is the withered grass ! 
8 



1 70 BLANID. 

SECOND PRIEST. 

He was born by the fen's black mirror, 

The offspring of Doom and Hate, 
He was cradled in the cave of Terror, 

And nursed at the dugs of Fate ! 
We chatter with fear, like sparrows 

When the adder stirs by the wall. 
For our threats are as pointless arrows 

'Gainst the thews of his strength to fall ; 
And we pray with the hate hate nurses 

Till our vision with rage is dim, 
And our mouths foam over with curses 

To wither him, heart and limb ; 
But some fiend of the fiends hath fenced him. 

Hath strengthened him, fang and claw. 
And our curses are naught against him. 

And our prayers are but chaff and straw ! 

CHIEF OF THE VILLAGE. 

My son in the throngs of the valiant was valiant where 

cowered the brave. 
He grew like the shaft of the pine-tree that towers by 

Beraran's dark wave ; 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 



171 



On the ritlge of the fore-front of battle, like the moon 

through the dust shone his targe, 
And the prince of the land was his comrade, as his 

long spear came up to the charge ! 
No more will he follow his lord to the conquest of isles 

and of coasts, 
No more where the firm earth is shaken by the shout and 

the charging of hosts 
'Gainst his shield will the javelins clatter, or the light 

arrows whirr through his plume, 
For his bones strew the black ford of Bierna, and his 

flesh feeds the fierce Thing of doom ! 

nRST MOTHER. 

As a bud in a land of roses 

My little one grew. 
As the violet Morn uncloses, 

His eyes of blue ; 
As the harps 'neath the golden rafter 

Of the King with the flutes combine, 
Was the voice of his silvery laughter 

To this desolate heart of mine ! 



1/2 



BLANID. 

Alas for the tender blossom 

Of bloom and light ! 
Alas for the mother's bosom 

That once was bright ! 
The brook in the woodland dances, 

The sunbeams shimmer and burn, 
But the rapture of my love's glances 

Will ne'er to my heart return ! 

SECOND MOTHER. 

As a twig of the catkined willow 

My loved one bloomed at my side, 
She was pure as the moon's white pillow 

Of cloud o'er the ocean tide ; 
She was winsome and bright and bonny 

As the lily by Bana's lake. 
She was sweet as the sweet wild honey 

The bees in the gold moss make ; 
Her mouth was a rose unfolden 

With the glory of morning smit, 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 173 

Her hair as the corn was golden 

By the tawn of the Autumn lit : 
Her voice was the throstle's singing 

At even from Lora's bowers, 
Her breath was the wood-breeze bringing 

The joy of unnumbered flowers ; 
But alas ! and alas ! that never 

Again will her hand clasp mine ! 
Alas for the fateful Riever ! 

And woe for the Wrath divine ! 



Then thronged they round the hero and they 
cried, 

" Deliverer, by the good Gods sent ! O thou 
That comest in the glory and the pride 

Of thy young manhood, with thy sunlike brow 
Beaming on us the look that never lied 

Of hope and comfort, in thy valiance now 
Strike for us ! Strike ! and rid us of the Pest 
Hurled on us by the nether Gods unblest ! " 



174 BLANID. 

Then called the hero to him a young man 
Who sat a strong gray horse and held a spear 

In his firm grasp. " The winds this morn that ran 
Over the fen where dwells this thing of fear 

Not swifter sped than thou must scour the span 
'Tween this and high Dun Dalgan, and bring 
here 

Lia Macha from her brazen stall, and him, 

Barana of the light and powerful limb ! 

" Bring hither the three giants ta'en by me 
The day we plundered Mana for my spoil, 

With their three brazen flails, and Aranie, 

My Poet, and the three hounds, Dil and 
Goil 

And Brena, and the Skimmer of the meads, 
Loy the strong charioteer, and in the toil 

Of the loud roaring chase, or in his den. 

We '11 meet and slay this monster of the fen ! " 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 175 

Away the young man sped, and loud again 
Cuhullin cried, " Go to your homes and sleep 

The sleep of safety ; and I too am fain 

To slumber ! Let this old man watch, and weep 

Beside me for his son till on the plain 

Eve's shadows fall ; then I will rise and keep 

Watch for you through the night with spear and 
sword 

'Gainst the dread Fiend by Bierna's gloomy ford ! " 

With that he sprang from off his horse, and lay 
Under the riven tree, and closed his eyes 

In slumber, while the old man sat all day 

Wringing his hands and moaning with low cries 

For his dead son, till when the twilight gray 

Crept round the hills and from the golden 
skies 

The sun went down, he cried, " O hero, wake ! 

And watch by blood-stained Bierna for our sake ! " 



176 



BLANID. 



And all that night he watched before the cave 
Of Bierna, by the black ford, and anon 

Taunted the Fiend within, and three times drave 
His horse half 'cross the ford, and three times 
spun 

His spear into the air and caught its stave 
Shouting as it came down, and when the sun 

In pink and saffron robed the rising morn 

He heard from th' eastern hill-gap Loy's blithe horn. 

Then back unto the village green he sped 
And waited, but not long, till from the wood 

Came Loy and Aranie, and with them led 
Lia Macha and Barana, and the brood 

Of Shrang, the three great hounds, black, tawn, and 
red, 
Brena and Dil and Goil, and those that stood 

Like three strong towers, the giants that he won 

In Mana when the gory sack was done. 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. lyy 

There stood they with their brazen flails and smiled 
With joy to meet their master, while around 

The three great dogs of chase in circles wild 

Scampered with gladness o'er the smooth green 
ground, 

And loud Barana whinnied when the mild 
Kind accents of his master with sweet sound 

Fell on his ears, and eager for the fight 

Lia Macha neighed and shook her trappings bright. 

Then cried he to the villagers once more, 
" Go to your homes, and, shut therein, abide 

Praying unto the Gods, while to the shore 
Of the black fen I and my people ride 

To rid you of the Pest ; and where before 

You groaned in dull despair, the welcome tide 

Of joy may flood your hearts!" — and off he 
rode 

With his stout following for the Fiend's abode. 
8* L 



178 



BLANID. 



There leapt he from Lia Macha where the fen 
Spewed out its sullen flood, and with a look 

Of import dread he eyed the monster's den, 
And, raising high his spear, its shaft he shook 

Defiant ; then advanced the giant men 

With their bright brazen flails across the 
brook, 

Shouting in tones whereat the rugged hills 

Trembled with all their forests, lakes, and rills ! 

Before the den there rose a savage brake 

Of copse and woven wood of thorn, wherethrough 

No man could rush, and there, a path to make. 
Around the giants' heads the bright flails 
flew ; 

And as strong husbandmen with scythes that take 
The meadow grass and all its glories strew 

Around them, with their flashing flails of wrath 

Up to the den they mowed their master's path. 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 179 



Then laughing they returned across the stream, 
And pointed to the cave, wherefrom the eyes 

Of the dread Monster blazed, as like a dream 
Of terror he lay crouched, his demon size 

Half filling the dark cavern. As a beam 
Of sunlight darting or the bolt that flies 

O'er the flat meadow from the storm-cloud 
sent 

Cuhullin 'cross the ford now rushing went, 

And leapt upon the bank with armed feet. 
Nimble, and up the path of beaten sedge 

Left by the giants' flails, strong, fierce, and fleet 
He rushed, keen looking o'er his targe's edge 

On the huge wolf that now sprang forth to 
meet 
His coming like the falling of a ledge 

In Barna, mixing as he thundered out 

His howling with the hero's mighty shout 



I So BLANID. 

'Gainst the great shield he struck, and, as a wave 
That plunges from the firm sea-rock, aside 

Glanced from the graven disk, and, bounding, clave 
With his strong breast the black ford's muddy- 
tide ; 

Then up the other bank through blow of glaive 
And lash of flail and dart of javelin tried 

In many a fray, he rushed, and headlong sped 

Down the broad track that to the village led. 

And after him with dreadful clash and clang 

Cuhullin rode, swift Loy and Aranie 
At his left arm, and loud their harness rang 

As their fleet-footed steeds swept down the lea 
On the wolf's furious track, that growled and 
sprang 

Before them, past the lightning-riven tree, 
Under thick dust-clouds through the village street, 
And outward o'er the meadows cool and sweet ! 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. i8l 



The peasant cowered behind his garden wall 
As they went by ; the children from their play 

Fled in blind terror, screaming one and all 

As the wild hurricane of chase passed on by 
spray 

Of falling brook, by mead, by cot and hall. 
By rock and hill, by wood and shore, till Day 

His golden hand with Night's black palm did join 

On level meads beside the fishful Boyne ! 

There in the midmost of a meadow rose 
A sacred fane to Gods whom no one knew 

So old it was, and there like virgin snows 
A flock of sheep lay nigh it with the dew 

Falling on their white fleeces, while with 
nose 
Half buried in the grass and violets blue, 

And twisted horns and ears of silver gray, 

The Patriarch of the flock outside them lay. 



1 82 BLANID. 

On him the wolf sprang swift and by the flank 
Caught him in his fell jaws, and with a bound 

Carried him o'er the encircling wall, and drank 
His blood within the fane, where man nor 
hound 

Would follow him, while over brake and bank 
Scattered the panting flock with fear astound ; • 

And there the hunters slept or watched all night, 

Till the fresh morn made earth and ocean bright. 

Then with a howl the wolf sprang from the fane 
And swept the flat lands with immortal speed, 

While, close behind, the hunt rushed on again 
Like the fierce whirlwind that mows the mead 

And cornfield with its wings of wrath and bane, — 
Away, away, hound, man, and foaming steed, 

Through Boyne, by Tara's height, by grove and 
dell, 

Till the hot noon passed by and evening fell ! 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 183 

On the far border of the Bregian plain 
A gorge there was by ancient earthquakes split 

Through a hill's heart, and now with crimson stain 
Its rocks and savage trees were all alit 

By the descending sun, as the wild train 

Rushed through its darkening mouth, while, 
terror-smit, 

Before them rushed twelve kine with thundering din 

Up to the cliffs that shut the steep gorge in. 

There, as Cuhullin neared the dizzy height, 

And the fierce herd of kine turned round, his 
prey 

Sprang on a brindled bull, and, where no light 
Gleamed thro' a cave anigh that open lay. 

Ramped in his victim's blood, and, as the bright 
Sweet dawn awoke, rushed out and made his way 

'Neath javelin cast and stroke of sword and flail 

From the deep gorge and o'er the open dale. 



1 84 



BLANID. 



Away, away through ford and rocky pass 

Two long days more they sped, till as the 
noon 

Of the fourth day died, through a fragrant mass 
Of foliage green they burst ; and there the boon 

Of Aine lay before them, — flowers and grass 
That drank from light of sun and star and 
moon 

Their ever-during loveliness, for there 

Beside a lake outspread a garden fair. 

And by the lake upon a knoll there stood 
A lovely house, whose front with traceries 

Was beautified, of many-tinted wood, 

Carven in rose, and the white flower that sees 

The stars from out the pond, with brilliant-hued 
Fresh blossoms of the moorlands and the leas 

And gardens, and the meadow's grassy floors, 

All intertwined round windows, walls, and doors. 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 185 



And all the knoll was bloom, the garden sweet 
All bloom and light, as if no Winter there 

Had ever shown with deadly frowns unmeet 
His frosty beard, and soft the perfumed air 

Blew from the lake, as with destructive feet 

The wolf now rushed o'er lawn and flower-bed 
fair 

On to the house, 'neath shaft and javelin whirr,— 

The house and peaceful home of Bras Mac 
Lir! 

Now Bras Mac Lir a priest of Ain^: was, 
Well versed in every rite and mystery 

Of the bright Goddess, and the gentle laws 
That govern love and the flower progeny 

Of earth and sun, and how kind Nature draws 
Her sustenance from both, and blithe was he, 

With his fair sons and daughters and his spouse, 

Within that happy, smiling, sunlit house. 



1 86 BLANID. 

In the bright sunny chamber sat they now, 

Sire, wife, and children, while through bank and 
bed 

Of flowers the wolf drave as the sharpened plough 
Through the soft sward, till, his eyes flaming red, 

He burst into the chamber, every brow 
Paling at his fell aspect, as with head 

Savage and huge and grim he crouching lay 

Glaring on them, ready to spring and slay. 

Then came the tread of armed feet, and fast 

Through the door strode Cuhullin, and plunged deep 

Into the wolf's broad breast his sword, that passed 
Through heart and lung, ere the fell beast could 
leap 

With his sharp fangs upon him ; — grim and vast 
Against the wall he lay, a gory heap, 

No more to ramp and raven in the blood 

Of the sad iolk by Bierna's gloomy flood ! 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 187 

Now Bras Mac Lir before his household cried: 
" O bright-clad hero, God-sent here to save 

My dear ones ! 'mid thy targe's circle wide 
I see the eagle soaring o'er his wave, 

I see the Red Branch, royal Eman's pride ! 
Then thou art he who took the option brave 

Of the short life and glorious, — thou art he. 

Famed through the islands and o'er many a 
sea ! " 

Then strode the giants through the hall, and bore 
The dread Thing from the chamber, and afar 

Amid the woods buried him in his gore 
In a dark spot where neither light of star 

Nor moon could reach him, nor the sunbeams 
pour 
Their gold upon his grave, — an oaken spar 

Driven through his heart into the bloody clay, 

To bind him in his darksome home alway. 



1 88 BLANID. 

Meanwhile the priest cried, "Why thou cam'st I 
know 

Chasing this demon Pest : for one bright morn 
Beside our crystal lake five days ago 

I saw a train bright as if they were born 
In fairy-land, where sweetest blossoms blow 

Upon the mead, to sound of flute and horn, 
And harp and pipe and tympan, resting there 
Around a silk pavilion smooth and fair. 

" And at its door upon a brazen seat 
A lady sat, fair as the flower that blows 

In summer when the garden is complete 
Of blossoms, and the beautiful white rose 

Laughs in their midst, her ladies at her feet 

On the cool grass, and like the pine that 
grows 

Tallest in Tunnamara's mountain wood 

A kingly man of battle by them stood. 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 189 

" And Fame had come before, and well I knew 
Great Curoi, and fair Blanid, and their train, 

And the fond promises 'tween her and you. 
And thy misfortunes, and her bosom's pain, 

And I am Aine's priest, and through the blue 
Of heaven I '11 send my prayers that not in 
vain 

Thou comest on the eve of her bright feast 

To save my house and slay this monstrous beast." 

Now when the house with perfume and with prayer 
Was purified, and when the Night divine 

With all her diamond lamps through th' eastern 
air 
Upclomb, and bathed earth in the sacred wine 

Of slumber and forgetfulness of care, 

Cuhullin slept, and through the fairy mine 

Of dream he wandered and in glimpses dim 

He saw his loved one ever weep for him ! 



1 90 



BLANID. 



At morn he woke and called to Aranie : 

" Poet and friend through fair or adverse tide, 

Arise and take my following home with thee, 
Giants and hounds and all, and there abide 

Till my return, for only Loy shall be 

My comrade searching for my promised bride ; 

For I have dreamt and seen her lovely eyes 

All drowned in tears for me, and heard her sighs ! " 

Then Loy and strong Cuhullin sought their steeds. 
And left the priest 'mid his green leaves em- 
bowered. 

And to the south all day o'er streams and meads 
And dales and mosses and great moors they 
scoured, 

And at the silent hour when the sun leads 

His glorious cohorts 'neath the waves, devoured 

With love and grief, by Loy he laid him down 

And slept till Morning donned her yellow crown. 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 191 

And all that day beneath the burning sky 

Still south they rode swift as the eagle's wings, 

Till at the eve where rose the mountains high 
Like a tall circle of old Druid kings 

Watching the closing of their fire God's eye 
Over the crimson waves, by Blama's springs 

Cuhullin and swift Loy in mournful mood 

Lay down to sleep within a windless wood. 

There dreamt he a strange dream, that made him 
see 

A sight whereat his heart did throbbing run, — 
A lovely stream that sang melodiously, 

A meadow o'er which Aine bright had spun 
Her many-tinted robe of brilliancy. 

And on its verge a gay pavilion 
Whose lofty poles and roof 'neath sunset's 

gold 
Shone with rare glory over mead and wold ! 



192 BLANID. 

And by its door he saw his loved one sit 

With her bower-maids, the squires, and foster- 
dame, 

And the great Knight, while in a rapturous fit 
The minstrel took his harp and named her name 

In a blithe song that caused the wood-birds flit 
Out from their homes, and for a space made tame 

The shy brown rabbit with his ears in air. 

And the red fox that watched him from his lair ! 

But nathless all the sweetness of the lay, 

He saw in her blue eyes but thoughts of him, 

He saw her memories were far away 
In Mana, by the blue lake's bosky rim, 

And thought he heard her sigh, — low murmuring 
say, 

" Ah me ! ah me ! ah me ! mine eyes are dim 

With weeping, O beloved ! why com'st thou not ? 

Am I, thine own, so very soon forgot ? 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERXA. 193 

" Alas ! alas ! In joy the sun may rise, 
Beyond the mountain's ridge in glory set ; 

But naught of day or night can glad mine eyes, 
Can charm my soul or cure my heart's regret. 

Ah me ! ah me ! why are Love's golden ties 

Made to be broken ? why, when once we 
met, 

Are we two chosen, O beloved, to be 

Parted forever, plunged in misery ? " 

Then daylight died, dark shadows gathered down, 
And slowly faded all the vision bright, 

And he awoke. Naught saw he save the brown 
High hill-tops towering through the ghostly 
night. 

Then loud he' called on Loy. " By my renown, 
O valiant friend," he said, " I 've seen a sight 

In dream that soon may bring a fateful hour 

To me and yonder Knight of Caher's tower ! 
9 M 



194 



BLANID. 



" But rest we while we may : the night is still, 
And I will think of her I love the best." 

" May no dark dreams of blighting grief and ill, 
O master mine," said Loy, " disturb thy rest ! " 

So slept they side by side, till th' eastern hill 
Waxed red with morn, and then through his 
high crest 

The fresh wind played as swiftly on they sped 

Down the lone pathway that still southward led. 

Fair smiled the morning upon Blama's hills. 
The silver mists curled up from moor and plain, 

Blithe poured from myriads of joyous bills 

The wild-birds' songs and mingled with the 
strain 

Of murmuring winds and woods and falling rills, 
As with light heart the lord of Beramain 

On his fresh couch of fern-leaves oped his eyes, 

Leapt on his steed and looked upon his prize. 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 195 

And as he looked he heard a trumpet clear 

Sound from the northern wood, and then there rode 

Into the glade a Knight. As he drew near 
Gay in the sun his gilded armor glowed ; 

Lordly his mien, high raised his glittering spear, 
Caparisoned in blue his charger strode 

O'er the green grass, and arched his neck and 
neighed. 

And with his jangling bridle champed and played ! 

" Dost know this shield's Red Branch and Soaring 
Bird, 

High prince of Beramain ? " the stranger said ; 
And at the voice with flush of anger stirred 

Stern Curoi his bold question answered, 
"Where'er Fame's trumpet sounds, or Rumor's heard, 

That shield is known ! But by what black weird led 
Comes strong Dun Dalgan's prince across my path?" 
" I come," Cuhullin cried in rising wrath, — 



196 



BLANID. 



" I come to win back thy misgotten prize, 

Mine own beloved, the bloom-bright Maid of 
Man ! " 

" Thou com'st to dye this grass with ruddy dyes 
Of thy best blood," cried Curoi, " and to ban 

All knighthood with thy word forsworn ! Her eyes 
Shall see the fight, so let him take who can ! 

Lo ! there she stands with her fear-whitened face ; 

Look thy last on her now, and take thy place ! " 

Then rose the rivalry and hate of years 

Hot raging in their hearts, as round they went 

To sunder for the red race of the spears, 

And as the wind-blown flame burns up the 
bent 

On a brown mountain's back that autumn sears, 
So all kind thoughts of good got banishment 

From their hard hearts of pride where revelled free 

Infuriate wrath and burning jealousy. 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. jgy 

Meanwhile, as one who on a wreck doth stand 
That the wide wallowing waves toss to and 
fro, 

And sees the saving boat put from the land, 
Now high, now in the sea-trough sunken low. 

Trembling 'tween fear and hope, each lily hand 
Pressed o'er her heart as if to hide her woe. 

And pale as one who had forsaken life. 

Young Blanid stood to watch the coming strife ! 

Short time she stood and looked with fear-dazed eye, 
Till each strong knight his lance the level gave, 

And like the thunder cried his battle cry, 

And spurred his steed, and 'cross the greensward 
drave, 

And as two rounded rocks that standing high 
Each side a deep sheer dell, when rain-storms lave 

The soft sands from beneath them, downward break 

And meet, and with loud shock the firm earth shake. 



198 BLANID. 

So on the trembling sward in mid career 

The heroes met, so each went thundering down, 

Fierce horse and man ; but yet each vahant spear 
Had done its work ; stern Curoi's helmet crown. 

Torn off, upon the grass lay glittering near, 

And through Cuhullin's shield with mighty 
stowne 

Curoi's sharp point to the white shoulder went 

And all his glittering mail with blood besprent. 

Then sprang they to their feet and warily 

Looked in each other's eyes with look of hate, 

And crossed their jarring swords, and with bent 
knee 
Fought a long time their burning ire to sate, 

Till like a storm -uprooted stately tree 
Cuhullin fell, and Curoi stood elate, 

Eying him as the hunter eyes the boar 

That fighting falls but yet may rise once more. 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 199 

" I '11 slay thee not !" he said, " but this strong man 
Must free thee from the Gods!" — then caught 
and raised 

His mighty spear, and then a two-foot span 
Of the bright brazen blood-red point outblazed 

Beyond a follower's back, that shivering, wan. 
With fear looked at the fight, — whose eyes death 
glazed 

Even as he fell ; — the varlet stout was he 

Who in fair Blanid's train came o'er the sea. 

" I '11 slay thee not, but I will bind thee sore, 
And rive thee of thy yellow flowing hair, 

That in the press of knights thou 'It ride no more 
For many a weary moon of grief and care ! " 

Then loud he called a squire, who with a store 
Of hempen coils came from the tent, and there 

With many a knot they bound the luckless knight, 

And reft him of his yellow locks of light. 



200 BLANID. 

Trembling against the strong pavilion pole 

The Bright One leant and watched the bitter fray/ 

Strong hope and terror struggling in her soul 
As the quick swords clashed in their murderous 
play; 

And when she saw her loved one, falling, roll 
On the red grass, a cry of wild dismay 

Burst from her, like the last despairing scream 

Of one who sinks amid the ocean stream. 

Then o'er the hoof-torn sward she tottering stept, 
And by his side fell down with dreary moan, 

And pressed her face to his, and sobbed and wept 
In a low, wailing voice, — "Mine own ! mine own ! 

O love! O love ! " she cried, "why hast thou kept 
This bloody tryst ? Why cam'st thou here 
alone ? 

Alas ! the answer in thine eyes I see ; 

Love brought thee hither, — love ! for me, for me ! 



HUNTING OF THE WOLF OF BIERNA. 201 

" Why have we loved ? Why was thy true heart fed 
With hopes of bliss ? O dear one ! but for me 

'Mid green Ulidian hills thou now wouldst tread, 
Chasing the dun deer through the wild-woods 
free ! 

Now a poor captive liest thou here instead, 

Bound helpless in these bonds of shame, and he, 

Thy victor in the contest, mocks thee sore, 

But in thy shame I love thee more and more ! 

" Farewell ! farewell ! He strikes his sounding shield, 
But Love is cunning, and Revenge is strong ; 

Though my weak hand no gleaming sword can 
wield, 
Red blood shall flow for this thy shame erelong : — 

Farewell ! farewell ! The frosts in glade and field 
Will nip the flowers, ere thou thy peers among 

Shalt ride as fits a knight by hill or shore. 

But in thy shame I love thee more and more ! " 
9* 



202 BLANID. 

"O loved one," low he said, "what tongue can 
tell 

My heart's despair, mine anguish, and my pain 
To meet thee thus ? Alas ! farewell, farewell ! 

Fate smites us hard, yet we may meet again !" 
One moment more, and in her jewelled selle 

She sat perforce, and 'mid the guardian train 
Of glimmering spears, oft gazing sadly back, 
She vanished down the forest's southern track. 

Then Loy stepped out from the wild tangled wood, 
And with his dagger reft the bonds away, 

And deftly from the shoulder wiped the blood. 
With healing herbs the long torn wound to stay ; 

And free once more Dun Dalgan's hero stood 
Shamefaced, and like two ghosts that shun the 
day, 

Skulking through woods and paths untrod of men, 

They sought Ben Borka's friendly peaks again. 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 203 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 



IVriGH the great, craggy mountains that each eve, 
High towering through the calm Momonian 
sky, 
In golden cones and pinnacles receive 

The last red glories from Day's closing eye, 
From where the silver streams blithe singing leave 

Their birthplaces amid the summits high, 
A wilderness slopes downward to the sea 
That murmurs on its gray beach joyously. 



204 



BLANID. 



High towering o'er the tallest pines that wave 
Their green heads in that blooming summer wold^ 

With towers and battlements and fosses brave, 
In gray, grim state stands Curoi's castle old. 

Upon whose front did hoary Time engrave, 

Through many a summer's heat and winter's 
cold. 

His battle marks, his scars of wasting frost, 

And rainy storms from the wild sea waves tost. 

There is a high and lordly chamber there, 

A broad brown hall hung with quaint draperies 

That picture ancient Gods of sea and air, 

Heroes of might, and ships before the breeze, 

And sylvan feasts, and merry greenwoods fair 
Where wild things gambol 'neath the rustling 
trees 

And hunters range, and o'er its massive doors 

Hang: wolf-brows and the curved teeth of boars. 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 205 

And round about its great cyclopean walls 
Are ranged in dusty state with antlers spread 

Skulls of the primal elk, and brazen mauls 
And shields for centuries unburnished, 

Jackets of mail, and banners black as palls 
That bright in ages gone to victory led, 

And glaives and spears rusted with ancient 
gore. 

Crossed now, but not in conflict as of yore. 

Now on them steals the yellow morning light, 
These trophies of great heroes dead and gone, 

And the huge chamber gradually grows bright 
And a grim swarthy smile of joy puts on ; 

As some old forest nook with moss bedight 
Seems all ablaze with splendor when the sun 

Looks through its guardian tree-boles, blithe, and 
fills 

Its depths with ruddy light from orient hills. 



206 BLANID. 

A window openeth to the sunny bay 

And the faint breezes of the day new born 

Lightly with its barbaric draperies play, 

And from their sleep the twittering eve-birds 
warn ; 

And there, like two sweet bunches of the May 
That bloom in light on Doona's fairy thorn, 

Stand Blanid and young Mora motionless 

Gazing o'er bay and beach and wilderness. 

No living thing she sees where'er she looks. 

Save the white gull its wheeling course that steers, 

Or o'er the wood the morn-awakened rooks, 

Or sea-hawk's wing that through the haze 
appears. 

Or hermit heron from far inland brooks 
On one long leg amid the shallow meres 

Watching the scaly sea tribes, as he stands 

Like a lone spirit of the silent sands. 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 



207 



Then wept she to herself awhile, and said 
Verses from love-lorn poets to relieve 

Her burning, doubting heart with hope unfed, — 
The more she said, the more to sigh and 
grieve, — 

And took her lute, with music sad to wed 
The verses that some ancient bard did weave 

To soothe his own heart, or some lover's pain, 

And thus with dove-like voice she sang her strain : — 



SONG. 

" Deep in the dell where ferns are growing 

A fountain springs, 
And o'er its gentle wavelets flowing 
And blossoms in the sunshine blowing 

The sky-lark sings : — 
Oh ! how he sings unto his mate 

Down from the ether blue, 
While I sit here all desolate 

And think, beloved, of you ! 



208 BLANID. 

" O happy bird, each hour returning 

Unto its nest 
Love's rapture in its bosom burning ! 
O heart of mine, forever mourning 

In sore unrest ! 
How dear the sky-lark's happy state 

Beside its lover true, 
While I, alone, all desolate, 

Sit here and weep for you ! " 



Now looked she on the ancient tapestry 

Whereon the wood was pictured, and therein 

She saw a little bright-winged bird in glee 
Singing its voiceless carol sweet and thin 

On Monad's Mount, upon the sacred Tree 

Of Life, and then she thought how near 
akin 

Her life was to that happy bird's one time, 

And sang, grief -filled again, the poet's rhyme : — 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 



209 



SONG. 

" The linnet on his leafy bough 

Sang O so clear and sweet ! 
When Love my comrade was, but now 

That Love is gone on winged feet, 

No more to give my heart good-morrow, 
What can I with the linnet's song 
But sadly sit and listen long. 

And think it full of sorrow ? 

" The throstle at the opening day 

Sang O so sweet and clear ! 
In Love's delightful month of May ; 

But now that Love lies cold and drear, 

What can my heart but sadness borrow ? 
What can I with the warbling note 
The throstle pipes from his sweet throat 

But think it full of sorrow ? 

" For Love in life was all I had, 

Love O so fresh and sweet ! 
To make my lonely bosom glad, 

But now, ah ! never more to meet 

His sunny smile and dear good-morrow, 
What can I with this life of mine 
But muse upon its woes and pine, 

And think it naught but sorrow? " 



2IO BLANID. 

And still she weeps and still cries mournfully, — 
" He comes not to console my wasting pain! 

Alas that I have loved ! Ah, woe is me 

For the heart's loneliness and longings vain, 

And promised bliss and wordless misery ! 

I 've seen brown Autumn end his lingering 
reign. 

And hoary Winter his white mantle spread 

O'er the sad earth, with yearning still unfed. 

" I 've seen blithe Springtide change with genial 
ray 

The hills' frore pyramids to golden green, 
But watching in my misery day by day, 

No sight of my beloved one have I seen ; 
I 've ta'en my silken broidery to allay, 

Weaving its shining threads, my sorrows keen, 
My unavailing hopes and bitter fears, 
But only wet its woof with ceaseless tears ! 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 211 

" And now gay Summer with her sunny gleams 
In royal robes moves through her .perfumed 
bowers, 

Her heralds wild-birds' music, songs of streams, 
And the bees' tiny trumpets 'mid the flowers : 

Alas, alas, that I have dreamed these dreams ! 
And woe is me for love's lost honeyed hours ! 

For while joy reigns around and all is glad 

In earth and heaven, I — I alone am sad ! " 

Then Mora said, " The hour is drawing nigh, 
O mistress, for the ending of our gloom, 

The blissful, happy hour when you and I * 

Shall walk through fair Dun Dalgan's groves of 
bloom 

As once we walked in Mana, where our sky 
Was bright with joys that never now illume 

Our lives, or fill with gladness and delight 

Our morning and our noontide and our nio:ht ! 



212 BLANID. 

"There never was a princess yet in story, 
Captive to some sea rover or some king, 

Some giant or some miser old and hoary, 
That did not win at last, when, sweetening 

Her life with hope of love and all the glory 
And gladness that her hero's deeds would 
bring, 

She saw her star rise from the clouds malign 

Of black despair, as thou wilt now see thine ! 

" For, as I walked beside the stream that sees 
At the hill's foot the wild things at their 
play 

Round its green banks, and all the mysteries 
Of the blue heavens, the eve of yesterday, 

I saw an old man sitting where the trees 

Bend o'er the tumbling water's diamond spray, 

With a small harp, a long begrizzled beard. 

And a screat sword that made me half afeard ! 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 



213 



" And as I stood irresolute, he cast 

A kindly look on me and said, ' Sit here, 

O brown-eyed little beauty, for thou hast 

No cause to shun me and no cause to 
fear ! 

Sit by this tree that yet will be the mast 
Of some great ship ! I am the poet-seer 

Of him thy mistress loveth, — Aranie 

Of strong Dun Dalgan by the eastern sea ! 

" ' Sit by me here and learn this song I sing, 
And sing it to thy mistress ! ' — and he took 

His harp and with deft fingers touched its string, 
And in strange accents like the voiceful brook 

Three times he sang this song, and made me 
bring 
My voice in tune with his, till every nook 

Of rock and wild-wood with the echoes rang ! " 

And then she took the golden lute and sang : — 



214 BLANID. 



THE MESSAGE. 

" Is the spirit of gladness dead ? 

Are there naught but regrets and fears ? 
Hath hope from thy bosom fled 

That thou drownest thine eyes with tears? 
Wilt thou never, O loved one ! never 
Grief and thy heart dissever, 
And gather the roses red 

Of joy for the after years? 

" From the troubles that waste and mar 

Joy and delight are born, 
Reward stands oft afar, 

Near are defeat and scorn ; 
But the steadfast soul hath in it 
Power that can work and win it. 
The comfort of hope's bright star 

In the glow between mirk and morn ! 

" True love hath a charmed life, 

It wakes in the morning air, 
It walks in the noonday strife. 

It lives through the midnight's care ; 
And better in hope receive it, 
In trusting faith beheve it, 
Than die by Griefs dread knife 

Or the arrow of black Despair ! 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 



15 



*' Then up he stood, and went, and like a dream 
The whole thing was to me ; but now I'll seek 

The King's bright garden where the fiery beam 
Of morn doth kiss the rose-bud's ruddy 
cheek ; — 

Watch from the window, downward by the stream, 
O'er the blithe forest and the hillside bleak, 

The strand, the moorland and the glittering mere, 

For in my heart I know thy love is near ! " 

And Blanid looks. From round a looming cape 
On whose high-towering front the sea-birds sit 

Guarding their windy homes, a boat doth shape 
Its course and cross the sunny harbor flit 

And round a point with sea-caves all agape. 
Till from its prow, his burnished harness lit 

By the glad morning sun, with spear in hand 

And waving plume, a knight springs to the 
strand. 



2i6 BLANID. 

Where'er Love's flame with hght immortal burns 
What wondrous instinct in the bosom hes ! 

Ah ! thus with her, the Bloom-bright One, — by 
turns 
Her cheeks grow pale, then red as morning skies, 

For well her heart foreknows whose footstep spurns 
The white sands far beneath her, and her eyes 

Shine with unwonted brightness as she sees 

Cuhullin's long plume waving in the breeze ! 

With red lips parted in a smile more sweet 
Than roses smile in their first virgin bloom. 

She turns, her golden-sandalled winsome feet 
Tread with light step across the lordly room 

As though they trod on air, her pulses beat 

With a strange rapture, and her year of 
gloom. 

Like a black vision nigh the morning seen, 

Seems all forgot, as though it ne'er had been ! 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 217 



Fast through a secret postern to the wood 
Out glided she, and down a pathway sped 

That wound by knolls of heather red as blood, 
And decked with fresh flowers, to the harbor 
led. 

Till by a spreading oak she sudden stood 
Irresolute, with a strange fear adread, 

And sat her down in a faint musing fit, 

And plucked a little flower and gazed on it. 

And as she looked upon its petals bright 

She thought of her lost home, her golden bower 

In Mana, and her days of young delight 

When she was fresh and pure as that sweet 
flower ; 

Then sprang she up, and like a dove aflight 
From the quick forester's keen shaft of power, 

Adown the path half blind with tears she ran, 

Till where it reached the beach's sunny span, 



2i8 BLANID. 

Beyond the wood shade, in the open ray 
She saw a godhke form all glittering 

With loving arms outstretched athwart her way ; 
Then felt them closely round her press and 
cling 

In fond embrace, and heard a kind voice say, 
" O love ! O love ! be this thy welcoming 

To my true heart ! " then faded wood and shore 

And for a space she saw and heard no more ! 

She woke ; 't was on a bank where o'er them 
spread 

A young tree 'tween them and the joyous skies, 
Upon his mail-clad arm her shining head 

Was pillowed, and his large gray kingly eyes 
Looked into hers with love unshadowed 

By absence or the burning doubt that tries 
The lover's heart with sevenfold fire : then she, 
Forgetting for a time her misery, 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 



219 



Slowly uprising, round his strong neck flung 

Her arms, and hid 'gainst his her burning 
face, 

And as a wild vine the green woods among 
Shivers wind-blown against its tree, a space 

Around him, her strong refuge now, she clung 
Trembling, then sudden sprang from his embrace 

And stood before him half afeard, half shy, 

With drooping form and sad deploring eye. 

And " O beloved ! " she cried, " think not of me 
As once, when in the heyday of my fame 

I won thy heart in virgin purity, — 

When princes from earth's farthest confines came 

To court my smiles! — now, now what dost thou 
see 
Before thee ? A poor wretch of blight and shame. 

For whom the Fates a dismal doom have wove, 

His blood-won slave despised, his thrall of love ! 



220 BLANID. 

" Ah ! would this heart were dead, these eyes were 
blind, 

At .rest from ceaseless torture day by day ! — 
Torture by his fell presence thrice refined ; 

For though he loves in his rough soldier way, 
I hate him tenfold among all mankind, 

And, hating, must dissemble as I may. 
Must cringe and lie, for I am brought so low 
That pride and truth are conquered by my woe ! 

" Arise then, O beloved one ! and depart, 
And leave me to the woes I must endure ; 

I am not worth thy faith : life hath its smart, 
But death erelong will come and bring the cure ! " 

He rose, he clasped her to his faithful heart, 

And fondly cried, "To me thou'rt bright and 
pure, 

O love ! and I will bear thee back with me. 

And my young bride high honored shalt thou be ! " 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 22 1 

Ah ! well for them that Curoi with his knights 
Is on the southern borders of his land, 

Encamped amid the lovely pine-clad heights 
That rise o'er spreading Carra's silver strand ! 

There roams he, tasting all the fresh delights 
That woodcraft brings when summer winds are 
bland, 

Forgetting his fair prize and her sad lot, 

And that wronged love revengeful sleepeth not. 

Again they sat beneath the leafy tree, 

On the green flowery bank, gaze answering 
gaze, 
And word fond word, in love's fresh ecstasy. 

As once before in those lost happy days 
Far, far away in Mana of the Sea. 

Thus sat they till the hot noon's torrid rays 
Smote sea and wood, then down the pathway came 
Unto their trysting-place the foster-dame. 



222 



BLANID. 



" And art thou come ? " she cried, " O valiant one ! 

Hath love o'er thy true heart such wondrous 
power, 
That thou in blind desire must heedless run 

Into the lion's jaws for this poor flower? 
Alas that ever shone the mocking sun 

Upon our bootless rage ! This very hour 
A courier crossed the bridge on courser light 
To tell of his great lord's return to-night. 

" Arise then and depart ! His purpose dread 
I know not, yet I know that naught remains 

For thee but instant flight, else on her head 
Will fall his anger, and renewed pains 

Will rive our hearts, and thou on dungeon 
bed 
Shalt lie beneath the moat in captive chains 

Till into black despair thy warm heart sink, 

Or the red block thy youthful blood shall drink. 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 223 

" Depart ! depart ! The hour will yet draw near 
For love and for thy vengeance long delayed : 

The Summer flowers bloom bright by stream and 
mere 
And wood and crag, but thou must let them 
fade 

Thy vengeance still unwon ; then Autumn sere 
Shall come, but when upon the moaning glade 

Slain by the winds of Winter he expires 

'Mid Samhain's feast and sacrificial fires, 

" Then do thou come, and with thy bravest band 
Valiant and swift and sure, and here abide 

Within this secret wood. Then Curoi's sand 
Of life shall run its last, for I will guide 

To vengeance sure and stern thine armed hand ! 
Then in his hour of triumph and of pride 

We '11 slay him as the forest dwellers slay 

The wolf that bears their best-loved child away ! 



224 BLANID. 

" And thou, poor child of many sorrows, lay 
Thy face against this withered breast of mine 

To shut from thy sad eyes the woful ray 

That lights his parting footsteps ! Gaily shine 

O'er sea and hill the beams of middle day, 

And ye must part, and thou must now ' un- 
twine 

Thine arms from him, O maid!" — and shudder- 
ingly, 

Moaning the while in her great agony. 

Fair Blanid saw him go. Then as a wreath 
Of snow at Springtide in the mountain pass 

Slides from its cleft to the flat sward beneath, 
So dropt she down upon the woodland grass 

All motionless, as though she ne'er would breathe 
Earth's air again. Too soon, too soon, alas ! 

She woke to weep, then rose and weeping still 
^With the old foster-dame went up the hill ! 



THE MEETING OF THE LOVERS. 225 

Meanwhile Cuhullin plied the rapid oar 

Of the light boat with gladsome heart and fond 

Across the harbor, round the sea-cape hoar, 
And into a lone wood-locked cove beyond, 

Where sprang he lightly to the wave-ribbed shore 
And up the wild-wood went, Love's golden 
wand 

Touching his heart with its sweet sorcery, 

Till won he where a stream danced fresh and free 

From ledge to ledge into a glade of green : 

And there Loy waited, there the twain bestrode 

Their steeds, and like a dream each changing 
scene 
Seemed hurrying by as in hot haste they rode 

Unto the North, till, as with ray serene 
Upon the mountain-tops the sunset glowed. 

They laid them down and slept, and morn again 

Found them fast speeding o'er the perilous plain. 
10* o 



226 BLANID. 



THE SLAYING OF CUROI AND THE 
REVENGE OF HIS MINSTREL. 



r^ REEN are the hills of early summer-time, 

And lingering long their emerald glories fade, 
When Autumn with slow steps begins to climb 
Their breezy fronts from the brown forest 
shade, 
Nipping the grass and flowers with frosty rime, 
Till long-drawn glen and bosky upland glade, 
Broad shadowy moor and skyey mountain spire, 
Put on their heathery robes of purple fire. 



THE SLAYING OF CUROI. 227 



And slowly as it comes, it fades away, 
The glory of the heather's purple glow, 

Like human grandeur born but to decay 
As the long years glide on with footsteps 
slow ; — 

The woods are bare, the hills are cold and gray, 
The cheerless morns no genial heat bestow ; 

And thus the earth changed with the changing sun 

Till Winter and the Samhaiu feast came on. 

One day, before the feast, the old dame sat 
By the bower window of her foster child, 

And looked upon the northern moorland flat. 
And saw a horseman spurring from the wild. 

And laughed, and rubbed her withered hands 
thereat, 
And on her foster daughter looked and smiled 

A crafty smile, exulting as she said, 

" Behold the first crumb of his bitter bread ! 



228 BLANID. 

" I was not born yesterday. I know 

The wiles of courts, the unstable hearts of men, 
And this sweet tongue some little seed did sow 

Within these walls, that have sprung up again 
In fruit whose baleful taste is war and woe. 

See the good horseman how he scours the 
glen! 
How up the stony path his harness rings ! 
Black with fell wrath be all the news he brings ! " 

With clash and clang the horseman passed the 
gate, 

With tottering steps he gained the lofty hall, 
And to the knights assembled 'gan relate 

How Roving Angus of the Iron Maul 
Fell upon Lora, wreaking his fierce hate 

On kith and kin of Ademar the Tall, 
The bravest knight that e'er in battle tide 
Put lance in rest by noble Curoi's side. 



THE SLAYING OF CUROF. 



229 



And soon the northern causeway gleamed with steel, 
As Ademar went off with all his power, 

And as the sun with golden chariot-wheel 

Had sought 'neath crimson clouds his western 
bower, 

With dying steed that scarce the spur could feel, 
Another courier came from Barra's tower 

To tell unto the knights his tale forlorn 

How Talc the Pirate sacked it on that morn. 

Next day a messenger from Brann the Red 
With gory spur came o'er the eastern moors 

To tell them how the Hold of Dunigled 

Was fast besieged by rascal slaves and 
boors. 

How scarce its ancient towers in conflict dread 
Their ruffian war another day endures, 

And asking for a gallant knightly band 

With conquering spears to quell their bloody hand. 



230 



BLANID. 



And thus the couriers came ; thus forth they went, 
The knights and men, to the far border lands. 

And as an evil sprite from hell upsent 

The old dame glided round and rubbed her 
hands. 

And smiled and leered in her false merriment, 
And brewed her cruel plot, till of his bands 

Remained with Curoi only ten good spears 

When Samhain's sun rose o'er the eastern meres. 

An hour before the fires were all alight 

By stead and town, temple, and village green, 

In worship of the mild Queen of the night, 
The old dame stole adown the forest screen. 

Till by a lonely brook that took its flight 

Murmuring two tangled banks of wood be- 
tween. 

She found Dun Dalgan's lord in ambush hid 

With many a mail-clad man the copse amid. 



THE SLAYING OF CUROI. 23 1 

" And O thou faithful knight ! " she whispered low, 
" The hour is nigh thine own beloved to save ; 

Watch well this sounding stream, and when the glow 
Thou mark'st of white swan's feathers on its 
wave 

That I as signal for the deed shall throw 
Into its bed above, then bare thy glaive 

And with thy warriors storm the hold, and slay 

And work the bitter vengeance as ye may ! " 

Meanwhile, as evening o'er the valleys threw 
Its mantle gray, within his lordly hall 

Sat the great knight amidst a merry crew 
Of squires and pages, gladsome one and all ; 

There some with eyes intent the hazard drew, 
Some the white dice upon the board let fall, 

Some quaffed the golden mead, some moved the 
chess, 

Laughing the while in their full happiness. 



232 BLANID. 



Stately he sat, a smile on his brown face, 
As he looked round upon the revelry, 

His scarlet robe thrown back with kingly 
grace, . 
His saffron tunic flowing to his knee. 

With golden belt that showed the cunning trace 
In gems of monsters of the land and sea, 

With gorget glittering, and dark locks bare 

Silvered a little by the helmet's wear. 

In his right hand he raised a sparkling bowl. 
And " Fill," he said, " O merry friends of 
mine, 

And drink unto the mistress of my soul, 
Blanid, the peerless one, the dame divine ! 

And though she weep betimes, as seasons roll, 
May she wax glad again, and may she shine 

In her bright beauty fresh as roses red 

That deck the garden bowers when Winter 's dead ! " 



THE SLAYING OF CUROI. 2^S 

And she within her bower lay hid, each sound 
From the far banquet-hall that reached her ear 

Making her heart with new-fledged terrors 
bound ; 
While the old foster-dame went far and near 

From door to door the joyous castle round, 
And oft into the banquet-hall would peer, 

Oft to the postern gate would secret go, 

Watching her time the signal white to throw. 

And still within the darksome forest glen 

Cuhullin lay, and watched the darkness come. 

And all was silent round, save now and then 

From the bright castle doors would float a 
hum 

Of merriment, or from the moory fen 

The curlew's whistle or the bittern's drum 

Would sound inconstant, till a breeze blew chill, 

And the white moon clomb o'er the eastern hill. 



234 



BLANID. 



Then all at once the Samhain fires outblazed 
To welcome night's mild Empress, bright and 
high 

On the round-shouldered mountains some upraised, 
Some low adown flaring against the sky ; 

But noting naught of them, Cuhullin gazed 
Into the darksome waters hurrying by, 

Starting at every leaf and moonlight gleam 

That whirled and flashed upon the lonely stream. 

At length, as higher rose the moon's pale rays 
Over the withered trees, and on the tide 

Flickered in flakes of snowy pearl, his gaze 

Caught the first gleaming of the white swan's 
pride 

Floating adown ; and as a wolf that stays 
All night within his lair, and long has eyed 

Its woodland prey and sees it near, he sprang 

Unto his feet, and while with mighty clang 



THE SLAYING OF CUROI. 



235 



Of mail-jacks and of clattering spears, his kin 
Followed him, 'cross the stream he sprang, and 
fast 

Out from the shadow of the dark ravine 

And up the moonlit hill-sides fierce they passed 

Unto the castle gate with furious din, 

And fell on the scant guard, who all aghast 

Stood at the porch and met the bloody shock 

Like withered fern before the falling rock. 

And then, as ocean's tide, wild wave on wave, 
Driven before the storm, with deafening roar, 

Hurry, and turmoil fills some yawning cave 
Tossing its spray on high, so through the door. 

In one bewildering whirl of plume and glaive, 
They filled the hall, and with dread shouts down 
bore 

The revellers' faint resistance, all save him 

Who now stood looking on them cold and grim. 



236 BLANID. 

Against the wall he stood, his eagle eye 
Glancing around upon the bloody wrack 

Seeking his foe, then reached his hand on high 
And seized a brazen maul, and to the attack 

Like the red lightning-bolt that cleaves the sky 
He sprang, and, for a moment's space, beat back 

The hedge of spears, till, drenched with hostile 
blood, 

He gained the spot where fierce Cuhullin stood. 

There from a soldier's arm he tore the targe 

And poised it o'er his breast with warm blood 
wet, 

And with tall knee advanced looked o'er its marge 
Into his foeman's eyes, and, fearless yet, 

With a great bound leapt forward to the charge. 
Shouting his cry of war, but ere they met. 

Pierced by a score of spears he fell, the tide 

Of life fast wellins: from his riven side. 



THE SLAYING OF CUROI. 237 

Then hard a jackman smote him as he bled, 
But as the spear-but whirled on high again, 

Cuhullin sheered away the caitiff's head, 

And kneeling down in strange remorse and 
pain 

By the great knight, " O man of men ! " he said, 
" I 'd give my life and all my broad domain 

To see thee as thou wert, my brother true 

In camp and court ere strife between us grew ! " 

Once moved his hps with words he could not say. 
Once rolled his eyes his ruined hall around. 

And he was dead ! Upon the hill-side gray, 

High o'er the mournful beach, they made his 
mound ; 

And as the mountain tops 'neath morning's ray 
Threw off their circling vapors, northward bound, 

Cuhullin rode along the woodlands bare 

With his stout followers and his lady fair. 



238 BLANID. 

Upon the new-raised mound all drearily 
Sat Curoi's minstrel brooding in his woe, 

One day that upward moaning from the sea 

Through the sere wood the wind began to blow : 

Naught recked he of the wild wind's wrath or 
glee, 
For of the mighty man who lay below 

Sleeping for aye the thoughts would constant rise 

And swell his heart and blind with tears his eyes. 

At length he took his harp, and, low at first, 
Woke its thin voice in mournful preludings ; 

Then high and clear a wailing strain outburst 
'Neath his light fingers from the trembling 
strings ; 

Then frowning with black brows like one athirst 
For blood and for the joy that vengeance brings, 

He left the mound, strode down the hill-side gray, 

And to the northward took his weary way. 



REVENGE OF THE MINSTREL. 



239 



And many a sight he saw by dale and down, 
Wandering till Winter's snows began to fade 

From the rejoicing hills, and his renown 
Preceded him, and wheresoe'er he strayed 

The people flocked from village, tower, and town 
To hear the wondrous music that he made 

On his weird harp, — a thing from heaven down- 
sent, — 

And crowned him first of bards where'er he went ! 

The village urchin and the maiden shy. 

The matron staid, the soldier brave and young, 

The aged carle, stood each with tearful eye 

And wept betimes at the sad songs he 
sung; 

And thus he roamed till day by day the sky 
Grew warmer, and the budding blossoms hung 

From the laburnum and the lilac pale. 

And the young grass in emerald robed the vale. 



240 



BLANID. 



And day by day, as still he wandered on 

From side to side, but always north, the hills 

Grew brighter, o'er the breezy moorlands dun 
The young lambs gambolled, and the streams 
and rills 

Sang songs of gladness, for the amorous sun 
Kissed them not vainly, till with gentle thrills 

The warm winds played amidst the opening bowers, 

And all the meads were gay with Springtide flowers. 

And Summer came ; the corn-stalks marshalled 
stood 

O'er the bright fields in all their greenery, 
The foxglove's glorious crimson edged the wood, . 

The wild rose laughed, the gleaming apple-tree 
Showered down its blossoms on the linnet's brood 

That chirped amid its branches ; glad and free 
All things o'er Nature's throbbing bosom glowed, 
Save the fierce minstrel on his weary road. 



REVENGE OF THE MINSTREL. 



241 



And as he wandered on, one sunny day, 

Where four roads crossed within a beechen 
screen 

He saw through the thin branches far away 
The glint of mail-rings and the brassy sheen 

Of targets and the glow of helmets gay, 
Of scarlet mantles and of tunics green. 

And dim beneath the sun-enlivened trees 

A country multitude surrounding these. 

And as with weary steps he drew anigh, 
Four trumpeters on silver trumpets played 

A melody with long-drawn notes and high, 
Then a great cymbal-clash wild clamor made ; 

And then a stately man with haughty eye, 

The king's own herald, in bright robes 
arrayed. 

Upraised his truncheon with red gold aflame, 

And to the wondering people 'gan proclaim : — 



242 BLANID. 



" O men ! O men ! O men ! pale Death is strong 
And life is weak ; and, like the withered grass, 

Before his dreadful scythe the lord of song, 

The King's own bard, to Death's dim realm did 
pass 

Not long ago ; and now all things are wrong 

With the great King, for, like false-sounding brass, 

Or jarring notes of a cracked virginal. 

The next bard's songs upon his sad ears fall ! 

" And 't is for this the silver trumpets blow, 
For this the brazen cymbals clash and ring, 

And 't is for this I wander to and fro, — 

To find a bard will please my lord the King ; 

And I have journeyed far, and yet must go 
Still farther, till to Eman's halls I bring 

Some wondrous bard, some magic-fingered one, 

Will please my lord the King like him that's 
gone 1 " 



REVENGE OF THE MINSTREL. 



243 



Then sat the dust-soiled minstrel sullen down, 

Unslung his harp and bared its strings of gold 
Before them all, and, with a troubled frown. 

Played a light-tinkling prelude, and, behold ! 
Strange bliss the listeners' cares began to drown ; 
Then voiceand harp-notes, mingled sweet, uprolled 
In a great soul-entrancing wondrous lay- 
That stole the hearts from out their breasts 
straightway ! 

And when the lay was done, a glad thrill ran 
Through the great crowd, and high before them all 

The herald spoke : " O sweet-tongued, marvellous 
man, 
Blest be the day I see thee ! Bitter gall 

Seems the best music that since life began 
I 've heard near thine. Never, in cot or hall, 

Heard serf, or lord, or lady, one like thee ! 

Arise, and come to the King's house with me ! " 



244 BLANID. 



And so it fell the minstrel must abide 
In the King's house, in gay apparel clad, 

And many a merry lay he sang belied 

His inward thoughts, for a sore heart he 
had. 

Then came the Beltain feast, when all the pride 
Of Ulad's nobles came with bosoms glad 

From many a moated town to Eman's hall 

At the king's word to hold high festival. 

And there Cuhullin came ; and with him came 
Bright Blanid, and love's boundless happiness 

Had blotted from her mind the very name 
And memory of the bard, yet none the less 

The dark man with his furtive eyes of flame 

Eyed her with rage his soul could scarce suppress. 

As through the gorgeous throng each day she 
moved 

In peerless beauty loving and beloved. 



REVENGE OF THE MINSTREL. 245 



Three days the feast went on ; on the fourth morn 
The glad hawks shook their wings and silver 
bells 

In the King's mews, the hounds, that all forlorn 
In kennel slept, now woke with joyous yells 

As the King's huntsman wound his echoing horn ; 
And soon both King and court amid the dells 

With hawk and hound went out to hunt the deer 

And start the heron gray by brook and mere. 

Three days they hunted ; on the third the chase 
Led them unto the high top of a hill, 

And there upon a breezy sunlit space 

They reined their steeds ; before them a bright rill 

Ran through a ferny gorge down th' eastern face 
Of a steep slope in glittering falls, until 

It reached a dale, where 'neath man's peaceful reign 

Spread homesteads, gardens, groves, and fields of 
grain. 



246 BLANID. 

Beyond the dale's rich verge, embellished 
By many a stately tree, a forest grew, 

Then a broad gleaming moorland far outspread. 
Wrapped in light azure haze, then to the 
view 

A cape raised high its wave-impending head, 
Then shimmering golden-green and silvery blue. 

Like a wide mead of Asphodel, the sea 

Stretched to the heavens its grand immensity. 

Adown the slope they went, across the plain 

And thro' the wood and up the cape's proud neck 

To the flat top, where the soft summer rain 

Brought from the grass wild-flowers in many a 
speck. 

There from their steeds they lighted, and full fain 
The squires and pages at the blithe King's beck 

Went to and fro, in merry mood, while fast 

They pitched the tents and spread the gay repast. 



REVENGE OF THE MINSTREL. 



247 



And as they sat, in glorious symphony 
The sea made music, and the summer air 

Played in the branches of each wildwood tree 
That round the cape's flat top grew here and there ; 

The heavens shone bright, and midst that company 
The mead went round in jewelled goblets rare, 

The wine-cup sparkled, eyes met loving eyes, 

And young hearts throbbed, and laughter gay 
did rise. 

Then some to cull the mountain flowers would go, 
Some danced upon the sward, within the tent 

Some hid them from the noontide sultry glow, 
Some plied the wine-cup in light merriment ; 

And she, the Bloom-bright One, now wandered 
slow 
Down to the cape's impending verge, and leant 

Against an aged thorn that drooping stood 

Through many a changing year o'er ocean's flood. 



248 



BLANID. 



Pensive she stood against the mossy stem 

In her full joy, the roses of life's May 
Tingeing her cheeks once more, and many a 

gem 
Sparkling within her tresses golden gay ; — 
Over the waves she leant, and looked on them 

As one who on a village green the play 
Of children sees, and smiles as memory 
Brings back some glimpse of childhood and its glee. 

Anigh her sat the bard, his dark head bare, 

His wild keen eyes with a strange brightness 
filled, 

The sea-breeze blowing through his curling hair, 
The sunshine gleaming as if but to gild 

His harp-frame richly wrought ; and smiling there 
Anon the King came down, then sweetly thrilled 

The music, and the courtiers gathered round 

To hear the wondrous bard his harp-strings sound. 



nEVENGE OF THE MINSTREL. 



249 



Then soft he touched the strings and made them 
speak 

In low love music, whose delightful tone 
Deepened the roses red on Blanid's cheek, 

Now like high trumpets on a war-field blown 
He clashed the wires and sang, then low and weak 

In dying sobs the melody did moan, 
Then voice and strings broke forth in one wild wail 
Of woe, that up the bright heaven seemed to sail ! 

Up sprang he then, his eyes with rage alight, 
And dashed his harp down with a crashing clang. 

And clutched the Bright One, and ere lord or 
knight 
Could rush between them, o'er the cliff he sprang, 

Clutching her closely still ! Along the height 
His last weird shout of vengeance lessening rang, 

As far beneath amid the breakers' roar 

They disappeared, and ne'er were looked on more ! 

THE END, 







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